 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
Civil Service Reform and Anti-corruption Measures |
|
|
Government,
donors and NGOs all acknowledge that low wages and low skill levels are
contributing to the low morale and poor performance of the public sector.
The NGO community reiterates that inadequate government salaries remain
one of the major obstacles to the delivery of quality public services that
could dramatically reduce poverty. NGOs working in Cambodia are
particularly disillusioned by the lack of progress in this area, and
especially the ones working in the health, education, legal and judicial
sectors. Particularly worrisome is the fact that the Health Sector
Strategic Plan did not select the problem of low salaries as a health
sector priority for 2003-2007. Inadequate
and/or delayed government salaries also fuel corruption, and corruption
has a greater impact on the poor. Although the RGC has publicly stated
that corruption in the public sector is a major constraint to sustainable
development and has pledged to fight corruption, little progress has been
achieved. A recent survey shows that even though the amounts paid by the
poor are smaller than what high-income households pay, the low-income
households bear the larger burden of corruption as measured by the
bribe/income ratio. Additionally, the same survey shows that households
perceive corruption to have become worse over the past three years. In
Cambodia, corruption is widespread and affects the judiciary, customs, tax
authorities, health, education, land, forestry, fisheries, road services
and police. •
Because civil service reform and anti-corruption measures are such
key issues for good governance, NGOs reiterate the need to provide a
decent living wage to civil servants by introducing a realistic government
salary system linked with an impartial performance-based scale.
Additionally, NGOs encourage efforts to pass anti-corruption legislation
while also using existing anti-corruption provisions to fight the
persisting culture of impunity. For further information on these issues and the recommendations proposed, please refer to the following issue papers: Education, Governance and Transparency, Health, Rule of Law on pages 24, 37, 40 and 56 respectively. |
|
|
|
Home | 6th CG Meeting| Agenda | Contents| List of Participants | Position Paper | DCR | Partnership | Government | Donors | Download | Map | Photo |