MoI tops list of those implementing strategy

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 12: According to official data, the government agencies concerned with implementing the strategy to enhance integrity and combat corruption have failed to achieve their commitments to the strategy when compared to their target until the end of last September, reports Al- Rai daily. Both the Central Agency for Public Tenders and the Central Agency for Information Technology recorded the lowest commitment to the strategy, as the achievement of each reached one-tenth of the target - 0.1 percent out of one percent. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) ranked first among the government agencies concerned with implementing the strategy. It had fulfilled its targeted commitments in full for the allocated period, which was set at three percent.

The Ministry of Higher Education was close to the Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) in rate, with the implementation of one percent of the targeted 1.4 percent, which digitally means its implementation was about 68 percent. It is clear that NAZAHA itself did not succeed in achieving its targeted commitments to the strategy until the end of last September. It implemented 18 percent of the 27 percent target rate, which digitally means that the authority recorded only about two-thirds of its commitments to the strategy to enhance integrity and combat corruption. It is worth mentioning that the number of priorities included in the axis of protecting the integrity of the public sector and developing the effectiveness and efficiency of the public services it provides within a framework of transparency and accountability in the Nazaha report amounted to five priorities.

The achieved rate from the total axis of “average achieved by the five priorities” reached 29 percent as of last September. This is in comparison to the target achievement rate of 55 percent, meaning that the gap between the achieved and the target amounted to 26 percent. The achievement in this axis increased since December of last year by 15 percent. Meanwhile, the Kuwait Institute for Judicial Studies fulfilled half of its commitments for the specified period at 1 percent out of a target of 2 percent. This is the same percentage recorded by the Joint Education Institute, which implemented 1 percent out of a target of 2 percent.

The Supreme Judicial Council implemented 0.9 percent of its obligations out of 1.5 percent. It seems that the Ministry of Education was not far from the scope of poor performance in implementing its commitments to the strategy, compared to the target, as it implemented less than half of the target at 0.4 percent out of one percent. Perhaps the same situation applies to the Civil Service Commission, which has implemented four percent of its obligations, compared to the target of nine percent. The Ministry of Information recorded a poor performance in implementing its commitment by 0.6 percent out of a target of 2 percent.

This means that it implemented a little more than a quarter of its commitments. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry implemented 3 percent out of 5 percent of its commitments to the strategy of enhancing integrity and combating corruption. Nazaha stated that Kuwait’s strategy to enhance integrity and combat corruption faces a number of challenges, most notably the delay in approving laws in the National Assembly, the lack of coordination between the authorities in the integrative initiatives, and the delay, and in some cases, the failure to receive progress reports from the implementing agencies. In its report, Nazaha recommended the need to develop a follow-up mechanism with the National Assembly to approve relevant laws, such as the law on the prohibition of confl ict of interests and other laws, explaining that they are entitlements that must be implemented under the United Nations Convention.