A study conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has shown that most Maldivians are not confident of the state’s aptitude to solve the problems facing the country.
The National Corruption Perception Study published by the ACC is the first of its kind to cover all administrative regions of the country. ACC stated that the report intends to understand the perception and attitudes toward corruption, the general perception about development challenges, witness or awareness of any corruption experience, based on the disaggregated demography of the target population.
The general perceptions of respondents on development challenges show that 56% perceived corruption to be the main problem facing the Maldives followed by drug and drug trafficking at 33% and unemployment at 27%. Around 64% of the respondents believed that overall corruption in the Maldives has increased and 28% believed that level of corruption remained the same over the past three years. The majority of this perception came from individuals at the age group 25 to 34 years.
The perception of corruption was highest for the Parliament and SOEs (75% respectively). As for the extent to which corruption has improved or worsened within addressees, over 50% of the sample population believed that corruption in the Maldives has worsened compared to the conditions that were of three years ago. It was believed to have worsened at the Parliament with 67% followed by government ministries and departments, SOEs, courts/tribunals and local councils each at 61%.
The study explored the perceived confidence level of the respondents regarding the state’s ability to solve problems facing the Maldives. The results showed that 67% of the total respondents were not confident of the state’s aptitude to solve the problems. When inquired about the effectiveness of ACC in combating corruption, the perceived confidence was almost equal between the opinions ‘fairly successful’ and ‘nothing has been done’ as 47% believed that nothing has been done by ACC, 48% believed the commission was successful in combating corruption over the past years.
The most frequent corruption acts witnessed or were aware of by the respondents were acceptance of money or gifts to vote for a particular candidate or political party which was 65% and the use of personal connections or favors to expedite a public service which accounted to 58% of the respondents.
Around 79% percent of the respondents stated that they will report the case if they were requested to pay some extra money or gift to a public official. The most likely institutions they would report this complaint to are the ACC and Police, with both agencies receiving 40% respectively. Respondents confirmed that personal experience and information from media is the information source they trust most for assessment of the corruption level in the Maldives.