Anti-corruption Strategy has not been applied, while institutions are not familiar with their obligations

Sarajevo, December 23, 2010 – Implementation of Anti-corruption Strategy has been generallyso farunsatisfying, while TI BiH research showed thatthe institutions that should be involved in Strategy implementation are not even familiar with their obligations or what is predicted by the Strategy.

Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) on its conference in Sarajevo published the results of monitoring of Anti-corruption Strategy 2009-2014 implementation, along with results of research on BiH institutions’ familiarity with Anti-Corruption Strategy and their duties in Strategy implementation.

As Transparency International BiH has been previously warning, Anti-corruption strategy implementation so far is not satisfying, and it is almost non-existent, having in mind that Anti-Corruption Agency is not yet functional. Not one of the main components of Strategy– building the Agency’s capacities, corruption prevention, education, training and raising the public awareness, laws implementation and Strategy coordination and implementation- has been implemented in time specified

On the other hand, research on BiH institutions’ familiarity with the Strategy showed that institutions which should be included in the Strategy and its Action plan implementation, are not familiar with what they proscribe and what are their responsibilities in its implementation. One of the causes for this is that instructions or guidelinesfor implementation of obligations from the Strategy were not made. This was confirmed by findings that many participants from entity, cantonal or Brcko District institutions heard of Anti-corruption Strategy from the media, and not through official channels.

Also, 40% of participants from Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that they do not possess reports on indicators of Strategy implementation from other institutions, implying that the main reasons for this are vaguely defined competences (20%) and delayed actions (20%). More than a half of participants stated that they have only partially started the realization of provided activities, or have not started at all, while only 11% of them stated that they totally fulfilled their obligations. Not considering the phase of Strategy implementation, most common reasons for such condition are split competences, bad coordination and communication, the lack of clear directions for acting and inaction of all participants in the process.

For all these reasons, true dedication of authorities on all levels and all competent institutions is necessary in order to achieve strategic goals in fighting corruption. Also, findings show that it is necessary to ensure appropriate cooperation between institutions in order to introduce them with obligations derived from the Strategy, and to precisely define mechanisms for compliance with these obligations.

The date presented show that the fight against corruption in BiH is still declaratory and there is not enough will to truly implement adopted laws and strategies. TI BiH accentuates the importance of dedicated approach to Anti-Corruption Strategy implementation, considering the huge presence of corruption in BiH and the fact that the previous three anti-corruption strategies were not implemented at all. This is the very first strategy that provides a special body of coordination, whose functionality should be the biggest priority, if there is going to be any progress in Strategy implementation.