2009
Local Self Government Sector Integrity and Capacity Assessment
Respondents ranked the importance of different ways to fight corruption. According to them, the most efficient way of fighting corruption would be to implement more strict internal controls regarding the performance of local governmental bodies (19.1%). Also, significant results could be achieved by publicly disclosing the legal proceedings of solved cases (16.2%) and by introducing more severe sanctions (15.7%), (Table 5). Table 5:
The best ways of fighting corruption (%) Montenegro
More strict internal controls regarding the performance of local self governmental bodies Public disclosure of legal proceedings concerning solved cases of corruption and other illegal behavior Introducing more strict sanctions Providing higher salaries for employees Campaign aimed at raising the level of awareness of parties on the adversity of corruption Simplifying procedures and shortening timescales to obtain permits, decisions, receipts, etc More specific legal regulations in this area Campaign aimed at raising the level of awareness of employees in local governmental bodies regarding the adversity of corruption More transparent work of local government bodies Other
Centre
North
South
19.1
17.1
19.9
20.0
16.2
18.3
14.7
16.0
15.7 10.1
14.5 11.5
16.7 9.5
15.5 9.5
9.7
8.9
10.9
8.8
9.2
9.3
7.8
11.1
8.7
7.1
10.8
7.4
6.1
6.5
6.0
5.9
3.9 1.3
5.0 1.9
3.1 0.6
3.9 2.1
Corruption is a negative phenomenon and it does not affect only particular areas of society. This was concluded on the basis of this research. Namely, half of the respondents thought that corruption harms everyone, not only the citizens or local government employees (Chart 23). This opinion was most strongly represented by respondents from the north of the country (Chart 24). Chart 23: Who does corruption in local self governmental bodies harm the most?
Chart 24: Who does corruption in local self governmental bodies harm the most (region)? 60.0
Everybody
54.3
52.5
50.4
52.7
46.3 43.1
Citizens
40.0
44.0
Civil servants
20.0
2.1
1.9 1.4
1.2
Other
2.9 1.5
1.7 1.0
0.0
Centre 0.0
43.2
20.0
40.0
60.0
Everybody
North Citizens
South
Civil servants
Other
Citizens most often thought that elected representatives/local parliament members could contribute to the fight against corruption, 64.9% (Chart 25). The trust in their contribution, when compared to the national average, was most significantly expressed by respondents from the northern municipalities (Chart 26). 20 Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative