About Fiji
Describe at least 4 forms of corruption and 4 strategies or more of reducing it.
Corruption is one of the usual unethical behaviors faced in different countries of the world. Corruption can be practiced by different persons who are in a powerful position and use corruption for their selfish benefit. It might vary across different kinds of activities such as briber or cheating (Rose- Ackerman and Palifka 2016). However, there are certain countries in the world where corruption is considered as legal. This paper will identify four different forms of corruption with special focus on Fiji and four different ways by which it can be avoided by the government.
Fiji is an archipelagic region in the Melanesia area of South Pacific Ocean. It consists of more than 330 islands and 500 islets, which make up to a total area of 18,300 square kilometers. This country constitutes of 868.400 members and it is ruled by a democratic government (Dornan 2014). In order to focus into the detail of corruption taking place in Fiji and the prominent areas of the same, a pest analysis is structured below.
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Political- · Fiji got independent in 1970 · It started facing a constitutional crisis in 2009 · Fiji got highly involved in the operations of international society and peacekeeping · It was unable to carry out democratic elections · It was removed from the commonwealth of counties in 2009 · According to UN, Fiji’s political stability score was three out of five (Cleaver 2017) |
Economic- · The country has a GDP of 3404 billion US$ · In terms of agriculture, GDP was 12.1% · Industry had 20.2% GDP · Services in the country had 67.&% GDP · The economy of Fiji was much better in comparison to its neighboring countries · The country has experienced an increase in foreign direct investment or FDI in the last decade · Inflation was more than the economic growth by 8.6% which more or less equal to 2.1% · The country had an increased import of 142% (Rahman, Naz and Singh 2016) |
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Social- · Fiji had medium life expectancy rate of 71.59 years · The country has a high literacy rate of 93% · There is large emigration of skilled workers from the country · There is less average in GDP per capita (McCarthy 2015) |
Technological- · There is lack of technological advancement · Agricultural productivity is improved but not technologically sound · It is an internationally acclaimed tourism destination but there is no technological development in the same area (Naidu and Chand 2014) |
Fig: PEST analysis of Fiji
The PEST analysis of Fiji was helpful in highlighting the areas where corruption might have taken place. A review of existing literature helped in finding out that Fiji is situated below average in terms of their activities in global corruption measured indicators. There is poor performance in terms of the legal policies and regulations. The major forms of corruption in Fiji are political corruption and nepotism, however the instance of bribery among the citizens is not specifically found. Two other forms of corruption were found to be risky distribution of cash and guarding the guards (Zhao et al. 2017).
Political corruption: according to a research carried out by Transparency International Fiji, it was found out that 90% of the political system in Fiji is corrupted. The research had considered the opinions of 1024 respondents who belonged to the age group of 18 years and over. Among the politicians who were surveyed for this research, 47% believed that the country’s politics is affected by corruption. Again, 54% of the respondents believed that the governments were incapable of taking necessary steps to combat corruption in Fiji (Valle-Cruz, Sandoval-Almazan and Gil-Garcia 2016). In comparison to the political sector, the religious and the NGOs were less corrupted. However, there was a touch of corruption in almost all the sectors of the country.
Types of Corruption in Fiji
Nepotism: According to Ratuva (2015), nepotism plays a major role in the most of the state and business organizations where the HR managers are accountable for hiring their family members and acquaintances. Frank Bainimarama, self- appointed and dictator PM of Fiji has illegally appointed his unqualified and ineligible family members to different positions in the government. There were other instances in Fiji where senior officers have appointed their young acquaintances who did not fulfill the criteria of the specific job position. It stopped the deserving candidates from applying for those jobs and thus, the country had faced employment issues.
Risky distribution of cash or money laundering: money laundering is a major issue faced in Fiji. It was found that the money laundering cases of Fiji were associated with terrorist financing. There were continuous activities of getting funds from original crimes and money launderers. In certain cases, the money launders were involved in terrorism activities, which posed threat to the country’s security. Fiji faced negative effect of risky cash distribution in terms of cyber crimes, online fraud and hacking of personal information stored online. The illicit funds created were often related to the illegal business of drugs and tax elusion.
Guarding the guards: Larmour (2017) has found out in his paper the advantages and disadvantages of the anti- corruption movements in Fiji. While reviewing the literature, there was a doubt regarding handling of the campaign by suitable people. As it is said that the protector becomes the prosecutor, there are several instances in Fiji, which have shed light on the misuse of power and authority. The military officials had attempted to hold back the fourth pillar of democracy or media in intervening into such activities. It resulted in breaking the trust of public as they were confused. A critical question hovered in their mind regarding anti- corruption campaign, that ‘who will guard the guardians?’
According to Walton and Dinnen (2016), it was found out that Fiji is ranked 55th among 175 least corrupted nations. It is expected that the rank will continue to be the same by the end of 2020. The government of Fiji took stern actions to stand against corruption. The interim government came to power in the year 2006 and they implemented anti- corruption discourse as a preventive measure. The country has implemented anti- corruption strategy to focus on the understood policy of anti- corruption documents to synchronize with the activities of anti- corruption. In addition, the government has used the defense of multiracialism in order to legitimize the removal of the elected government. This process has backfired and made led to an inefficient democratic institution in the country. The negative effects were felt in terms of decreased space in civil society along with a mute group of opponents and the media. Apart from that, there were certain positive aspects too such as; Fiji got the opportunity to come back gradually in the path of democracy (Wallace 2014).
Strategies to Fight Against Corruption
To combat different acts of corruption, the Fiji Independent Commission against Corruption (FICAC) was established in April 2007, to focus on the corruption cases in the last decade. This commission came into practice during the International Anti Corruption Day and highlighted the offence of bribery and abuse. This commission was responsible for pointing out the government personnel and employees of the private and public sector. It was found out by this commission that most of the cases of bribery were associated with the members of the public (Zamaletdinov et al. 2016).
The government of Fiji took a step forward by celebrating international anti- corruption day on December 9 by organizing road shows in 32 different areas of the country. It is a great strategy in making the people aware by not exerting any additional burden. At the same time, it is an eye- opener for all those who are involved in the act of corruption and it will be a lesson for them. On the specific day, the commission gets an opportunity to mingle with the public and spread awareness by handing leaflets. The public are advised to detect red flags if they find out any kind of corruption activities taking place around them. On December 9, 2017, the theme of anti- corruption was ‘United against Corruption for Sustainable development in Fiji’ which was intended to create awareness and motivate public to complaint about corruption related activities to FICAC (Zhao et al. 2017).
Conclusion
There is a trend among the public in Fiji to follow silence strategy when they find out about corruption activities. This is because the local people believe that maintaining silence is the suitable way for conducting business and that is how life goes on for them. The local citizen of Fiji believed that, in order to improve their country’s education, roads, judicial system and infrastructure they need to stand united against corruption. FICAC also believed in the same concept that in order to eradicate corruption from their country, they will require the support of common people.
References
Cleaver, J., 2017. Corruption in the Pacific-a threat to cultural identity. Pacific Journalism Review: Te Koakoa, 23(2), pp.70-92.
Dornan, M., 2014. Reform despite politics? The political economy of power sector reform in Fiji, 1996–2013. Energy Policy, 67, pp.703-712.
Larmour, P., 2017. Governance and reform in the South Pacific. Canberra, ACT: National Centre for Development Studies, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University.
McCarthy, S., 2015. The limits of civil society in militarised regimes: evidence from the Asia-Pacific. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 69(6), pp.711-728.
Naidu, S. and Chand, A., 2014. Exploring the relationship between freedom from corruption and business governance in the Oceania region. Quality & Quantity, 48(6), pp.3489-3509.
Rahman, M.H., Naz, R. and Singh, G., 2016. E-government prospects and challenges in Fiji. Electronic Government, an International Journal, 12(2), pp.186-200.
Ratuva, S., 2015. The interface between affirmative action and neoliberalism: The case of Fiji. Cultural Dynamics, 27(1), pp.135-154.
Rose-Ackerman, S. and Palifka, B.J., 2016. Corruption and government: Causes, consequences, and reform. Cambridge university press.
Valle-Cruz, D., Sandoval-Almazan, R. and Gil-Garcia, J.R., 2016. Citizens’ perceptions of the impact of information technology use on transparency, efficiency and corruption in local governments. Information Polity, 21(3), pp.321-334.
Wallace, M., 2014. Fiji: Case study of a paradox. Australian Humanist, The, (115), p.16.
Walton, G. and Dinnen, S., 2016. The dark side of economic globalisation: politics, organised crime and corruption in the Pacific.
Zamaletdinov, R.R., Yudina, N.P., Lavrentyeva, E.I., Savva, L.I. and Pugacheva, N.B., 2016. Practical Recommendations on the Improvement of the Effectiveness of Anti-corruption Policy in Universities. International Review of Management and Marketing, 6(2).
Zhao, F., Naidu, S., Singh, G., Sewak, A., Chand, A. and Karan, M., 2017. An empirical study of e-government diffusion in Fiji: a holistic and integrative approach. Public Management Review, pp.1-23.
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