Nationwide survey reveals culture of corruption in Ukraine (01/26/03)

Nationwide survey reveals culture of corruption in Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A culture of corruption is settling upon Ukraine, according to a national survey released on January 15.

The poll, developed by the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research and the Social Monitoring Center in conjunction with the United Nations Development Program, showed that 78 percent of the respondents believed that all or most all government officials have accepted bribes. More than 80 percent stated that corruption was prevalent within the judicial branch of government, as well, while 71 percent responded in the affirmative to a query about whether they believed that most government officials were tied to the mafia or private family business relations.

The survey, conducted in late November and early December, included 3,063 respondents from 83 cities and 69 villages across Ukraine. The margin of error was between 1.1 percent and 1.83 percent.

The most telling finding, however, was that a good portion of Ukraine's populace seems inclined to accept bribery and corruption as a normal part of everyday life. Some 23 percent of the respondents indicated that making additional payments beyond the assigned cost of a government service was tolerable. About 44 percent indicated they paid bribes or made gifts in one form or another at least once in the last year.

"Today bribes have become the norm for society," explained Olha Balakirieva, director of the Social Monitoring Center. "This is one of the phenomenon of contemporary Ukrainian society that we need to research. We cannot ignore it."

Ms. Balakirieva said that a majority of the respondents accept the situation because they believed their government was incapable of change. Nearly two-thirds responded that in their estimation government actively resists popular control and refuses to listen to its citizens. Most citizens believe the government lacks democratic values, has little transparency in day-to-day activities and is all but bereft of professionalism.

She noted that about 44 percent of respondents replied that central government authorities were incapable of resolving individual and societal problems, and a like number, 45 percent, could not do so at the oblast and local level.

Oleksander Yaremenko of the Ukrainian Institute of Social Research explained that many people tied higher levels of government to higher rates of bribery and corruption. He said that a part of the reason was that at the local and oblast level people had more information on their government representatives and access to them.

Interestingly, according to Mr. Yaremenko's report, a majority of the respondents stated that they believed that a person entering government today was doing it for financial benefit. More surprising, Mr. Yaremenko said that the number of college graduates entering government service had grown in the last couple of years.

"Whereas earlier graduates indicated they wanted to enter business or banking, now they are expressing a desire to find government jobs," said Mr. Yaremenko.

The phenomenon is quite inexplicable since salaries in the government sector remain quite low, well below those paid in the private sector.

Finally, the study found that many Ukrainians have grown so accustomed to bribe-giving that some no longer discern what is a bribe. Mr. Yaremenko indicated that one in six respondents didn't consider paying a doctor for what should be free, government-subsidized medical service a bribe. And, one in every 10 people stated that he/she did not consider it to be a bribe to make a private payment to a plumber employed by the municipal communal services center to assure the plumber's individual and timely attention in fixing a problem in his/her apartment.

"Corruption is so widespread that it is becoming institutionalized," explained Mr. Yaremenko.

The survey also listed the areas within the government where bribe taking is most commonplace. Seventy-three percent of the respondents indicated they had offered money to medical workers, 25 percent identified traffic police, while 24 percent responded that they had paid teachers and professors. Another 23 percent claimed they had illegally compensated government communal service workers, while 13 percent said they had paid to obtain special telephone services. Ten percent of the respondents identified tax inspectors as the recipients of their money.

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