Integrity is key in fight against corruption

22/01/2013

Macedonia may create a model system to promote integrity through an exchange of information from anti-corruption agencies.

By Klaudija Lutovska for Southeast European Time in Skopje -- 22/01/13

Boosting the integrity of public institutions, like the country's police, will help Macedonia fight corruption. [AFP]

In order to boost the fight against corruption, Macedonian institutions and NGOs should work together to create a "model of integrity," experts said.

"It is obvious that we have a need to promote co-operation between the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Public Prosecutor's Office and other organisations," Mihajlo Manevski, former member of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption, told SETimes.

"Integrity must be established [and] their work must be visible to communicate with the public and to create public opinion," Dragan Malinovski, a former member of the Anti-Corruption Commission, told SETimes. "The commission must be the driving force of anti-corruption policies, to institutions to deliver pace, suggestions, calling for transparency, sound and accountable operation."

Integrity is one of the most important concepts in good governance, Sladjana Taseva, president of Transparency International Macedonia, said.

A recent conference was organised by the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the OSCE mission in Macedonia and Transparency International Macedonia.

The project is part of a three-year plan of the OSCE to support the national programme for Prevention and Repression of Corruption 2011-2015.

Ambassador Natalya Drozd, deputy head of the OSCE Mission in Macedonia, said the conference, which was held in Ohrid, was a key activity in the framework of the Good Governance Programme -- part of a long-term plan to support the implementation of the national programme for the prevention of corruption.

"The OSCE Mission in Skopje organised the conference to assist in identifying the most appropriate model for Macedonia, learning from the experiences of those who have already conducted similar activities in the region," Drozd told SETimes. "It is expected that the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption will introduce a system to promote integrity in domestic institutions through amendments to the legislation in 2013."

Representatives from public institutions and regional anti-corruption agencies in Slovenia, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia attended the conference, and exchanged experiences from their countries to help co-ordinate the model of integrity and anti-corruption policies.

"It will help the commission, in co-operation with local institutions, to implement the best practices and decide on the basic elements of the concept of promoting integrity in our country. Integrity is seen as a key requirement for public trust in public administration and in the work of the Supreme Audit Institution," Ljubinka Koraboska, chairman of the State Commission, told SETimes.

She said that the Anti-Corruption Commission must foster the concept of integrity in the public sector, while boosting collaboration between private sector institutions and the country's NGOs.

"The modalities are different, but the objectives аre the same. Only by joint efforts we can create an effective front against corruption," Taseva said.

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