Our View: More red tape will not diminish corruption

A couple of days ago, President Anastasiades met with the members of the internal audit council, which comprises of three ministers, the state treasurer, a certified accountant and the commissioner of the internal audit, and asked for the preparation of proposals for the effective staffing of internal audit units at ministries.

After the meeting, deputy government spokesman Panayiotis Sentonas said the objective of the meeting was the adequate staffing of these units so they could carry out evaluation and improvement of the procedures for the management of risks and the system of internal controls within ministries. The president asked that a comprehensive proposal be prepared by the end of the month, Sentonas said.

This is one of Anastasiades’ many actions intended to fight corruption. A raft of plans and initiatives was announced two weeks ago, which included the internal audits of ministry procedures and of the police force, as he is moving ahead with measures that do not need to be sent to the legislature. What does he hope to achieve with this, greater scrutiny of the decisions of civil servants?

But does corruption stem from the decisions of civil servants or the interference of politicians in the work of the civil service? Most civil servants are terrified of showing a hint of initiative and always take cover behind committee decision-making. The corruption, if and when it takes place, is sanctioned by orders from above, given by the very top brass who are often backed by a politician.

All that these internal audits will achieve is to create more red tape and make civil servants even more reluctant to make a decision. One of the accusations government ministers levelled against the auditor-general was that his incessant meddling in ministries slowed down the already slow decision-making because civil servants were terrified of being targeted by him. So now that another layer of auditing, will be imposed what is the likelihood of any decision being taken by civil servants promptly?

Another matter that was not explained by Sentonas’ announcement was where employees, to ensure effective staffing of the audit units would come from. Would more staff be hired and added to the constantly rising public payroll, for the sake of fighting corruption? This is more than likely considering no civil servant can be trusted to audit their ministry colleagues effectively.

In other words, the president’s audit units would be nothing more than a costly hindrance to the functioning of government departments, slowing down even further the decision-making process. And they will not diminish the low level corruption that exists.