Fighting Corruption in Public Services

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were appointed for 10-year terms and given higher salaries and intensive training. Early reforms in health care focused on privatizing services, sharpening the focus on primary care and prevention, and reducing the number of hospital beds and staff. Health outcomes improved modestly between 1995 and 2003 but did not recover to 1990 levels. (An exception was immunization rates, which rose dramatically.) The number of hospitals and staff was also reduced, albeit by less than targeted. Education reforms began in 2001, focusing on a new curriculum, improved teaching methods and training, and greater autonomy for schools. Work also started on a national university entrance exam designed to eliminate corruption in university admissions. Overall, the share of the budget going to the social sectors was small before 2003, and the little that was allocated was often sequestered because of shortfalls in revenue collection. Pension payments were 18 months in arrears by the end of 2003. In 2000, the government launched an effort to tame the growing crisis of corruption in the public sector. President Shevardnadze appointed a group of seven experts to elaborate a national anticorruption program and guidelines for its implementation. In a radio address in March 2001, he pronounced that “the country’s independence and its statehood, gained through the shedding of blood and tears, is on one pan of the scales, and corruption, with all its horrendous manifestations, is on the other.” On the basis of the work of the expert group, the president signed two decrees in April and May 2001 authorizing the formation of a 12-member coordinating council and the creation of an anticorruption bureau. The council, chaired by the president himself, remained very active through November 2003. Several members of the council accused prominent government officials of corruption. Despite the high profile of the council and the commitment of many of its members, little progress was made. The political will and capacity of the government to make changes simply did not exist. Nonetheless, these faltering first steps laid the foundation on which many of the reforms under the new government were built.

Emerging Reformers Many reformers who took power in 2004 had gained valuable experience in President Shevardnadze’s government before joining the opposition in frustration over the stymied reforms and continued corruption. President

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Fighting Corruption in Public Services

Published on Jan 19, 2012

World Bank Publications

Since the Rose Revolution at the end of 2003, Georgia has had singular success in fighting corruption in a variety of public services. This book is an attempt to chronicle these efforts and to distil the ‘how to’ of these anti-corruption reforms. The reason corruption in public services had to be fought was clear. What had to be done was also obvious to many. But little has been written on ‘how’ the government made it happen. What were the salient features of Georgia's anti-corruption reforms? Can Georgia’s success with cleaning up its public services be replicated elsewhere or is it unique? And are the achievements to date in Georgia sustainable? This book tries to answer these questions. It uses available data and interviews with current and former government officials to describe the challenges facing government, the decisions made, and the tradeoffs considered.