The state minister for power is right to express determination to end the corruption which delays or stops consumers from getting electricity connections.
His remarks were made in response to a survey for the power division, which found that 40% of rural customers are forced to pay a bribe to get electricity connections. Figures for cities were lower, but as the minister rightly says, any toleration of bribery is unacceptable.
The findings are no surprise to consumers who have become used to corruption and poor service. Power sector insiders, moreover, suggest the reality may be even worse as the study was conducted when demand was relatively low.
While we welcome openness in sharing data, the results simply confirm what the public already knows.
The same can be said about the finance minister’s candid disclosures in parliament last week, blaming political protection for the government’s failure to take punitive action against officials of state banks implicated in the Hallmark and Basic bank loan scandals.
Likewise the chief justice’s comments blaming faulty training and supervision of police and prosecutors, for the failures that allow accused human traffickers to go free, largely confirm what the public already knows.
Admitting to problems must be seen as only the first step towards fixing them,
The institutionalised lack of enforcement of river safety rules which lies behind the high accident rates on ferries, is a key example of the chronic shortcomings which everybody is forced to live with, because no-one is held properly accountable to fix them.
Transparency without accountability is not sufficient. The government needs to be more responsive to public concerns and hold wrongdoers to account if it is to fix recurring problems.
