By gender, more male respondents than female respondents expressed distrust in government agencies that control corruption. While 6 out of 10 men expressed distrust in government agencies, only half of women said they did not trust them.
What you should know
A majority of citizens have expressed distrust in government agencies established to control corruption. Fifty-five percent of respondents to a nationwide survey conducted in collaboration with Kantipur Media Group and Sharecast Initiative said they do not trust government agencies established to control corruption.
Only about a third of the 2,905 respondents who participated in the survey said they had faith in such institutions. About 10 percent of respondents said they did not know or did not clearly disclose their faith or distrust. The survey clearly shows that the majority of citizens do not consider institutional efforts to control corruption to be effective. This result shows that the respondents are not satisfied with the results of corruption control.
The assessment of the effectiveness of government agencies varies according to the educational level of the respondents. As the level of education increases, more people do not believe that government agencies are working to control corruption. More than two-thirds of those who have studied at a bachelor's degree or higher have no faith in government agencies. This means that citizens with higher education are evaluating institutional effectiveness using relatively subtle and strict criteria. The educated group seems to be looking more critically at the performance of public institutions, service processes, and the gap between the claims made by the ruler and the actual results.
Looking at the economic status of the respondents, the highest number of respondents who do not believe that government agencies are working to control corruption are in the ‘high-income’ category. About two-thirds of the respondents in the ‘high-income’ category said they do not believe, while less than half of the community in the ‘poorest’ group did not believe.
By province, the number of people who do not believe that government agencies control corruption is highest in Gandaki Province. This is followed by respondents in Lumbini and Bagmati, respectively. More than half of the respondents in Karnali do not trust government agencies, but their percentage is lower than in Gandaki, Lumbini and Bagmati. In the Far West, one in every eight respondents said they did not know about this, which is the highest percentage among those who did not know.
By gender, more male respondents than female respondents expressed distrust in government agencies that control corruption. While 6 out of 10 men expressed distrust of government agencies, only half of women said they did not trust them. This shows that women and men have different perspectives on social experiences, access to information, and contact with public institutions when receiving services from government agencies.
The latest report by Transparency International has shown that Nepal remains on the list of countries with the highest levels of corruption. Nepal is at number 110 out of 182 countries. Similarly, Nepal has been placed on the ‘grey list’ for two years by the ‘Financial Action Task Force’, an international organization that monitors money laundering. Nepal, which was on the list last year, risks being permanently on the list or even blacklisted if it fails to exit it within the next year.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, a constitutional body empowered to investigate and prosecute people holding public office for bribery, corruption, and embezzlement, received about 37,000 complaints last year. However, the Authority filed only 137 cases in the special court. This shows that there are problems in investigation and prosecution even in an institution like the Authority. Similarly, the work of institutions like the Money Laundering Department, the Revenue Investigation Department, and the National Vigilance Center has also been criticized for not being as expected.
In the upcoming House of Representatives elections, which are being held next week, parties have also nominated individuals who have been convicted in corruption cases by the special court or whose cases are pending. The survey shows that citizens are closely evaluating and monitoring the poor performance of government institutions and the behavior of parties/leaders.
Another question related to corruption was asked to the participants in the survey – ‘Who do you consider responsible for not receiving services on time or expecting additional benefits from the service provider or having to face unnecessary hassles while receiving services?’.
The highest number of respondents, about 82 percent, said that the concerned employees and the head of the office or the management there were the most responsible. About 22 percent held the political leadership responsible. About 14 percent held the ‘entire government system or governance’ responsible. About 9 percent of respondents said that intermediaries/brokers and service recipients themselves were also responsible.
The survey data showed that political leadership was responsible for 22.1 percent and rules/systems/overall governance for 14.2 percent. But those responsible are less than the employees or office heads and management who directly provide services. More than 80 percent of respondents blame the employees or office heads/management who provide services for not receiving timely and proper services in public offices.
In terms of gender, about 85 percent of male respondents consider the employees/office management and about 25 percent the political leadership more responsible, while the figures for women are 78 and 19 percent respectively.
When analyzing the respondents according to their economic status, about 90 percent of the respondents in the high-income group said that individual employees/office management and about 23 percent of the existing rules/governance system are the most responsible. The respondents in the poorest group, on the other hand, consider the political leadership to be more responsible. About 33 percent of the respondents in the poorest group in terms of economic status said that the political leadership is the main responsible for not receiving services on time.
When looking at the perception by province in terms of not receiving services on time, about 92 percent of the respondents living in Lumbini and about 91 percent of the respondents living in Karnali said that the employees or office management providing services are the main responsible. The assessment of the administrative experience related to service delivery in Lumbini and Karnali shows that it is directly service provider-centric.
About 28 percent of the respondents in Bagmati said that government rules/procedures and the overall governance system are responsible. Which is more than many other provinces. This can be seen in connection with the administrative experience of city dwellers, the perception of institutional complexity, or a critical view of policies and procedures. Similarly, almost one-third of respondents from the Far West and Karnali regions said that political leadership is more responsible.
From the perspective of residence, about 25 percent of respondents from sub-metropolitan regions held government rules/systems and the overall governance system responsible for not receiving services on time. In rural municipalities, this number is about 9 percent.
This is how the survey was conducted
In the survey on ‘Citizens’ perceptions of contemporary social, economic and political issues in Nepal’, about 2,905 people were interviewed in person from across the country. While selecting the respondents participating in the survey, the number of respondents (sample) was distributed based on the proportion of the number of households in all seven provinces. Members who have been living in the same house as members of a single household for the past 6 months and who eat in the same kitchen are counted as a household.
The distribution of households and respondents participating in the interview was based on the proportion of the total number of households residing in rural municipalities, municipalities, and metropolitan cities. The selection of districts and municipalities for the survey was done based on the PPS (Probability Proportion to Size) method.
116 wards from 102 municipalities in 45 districts were selected for the survey. When selecting households, after reaching the selected ward, a chowk was randomly selected and the houses on the right side of that chowk were selected. A list of 90 households in rural municipalities, 120 households in municipalities, and 150 households in metropolitan cities was prepared from the selected toles. To determine which households to interview, only 25 households within the selected wards were interviewed, which is the number of households divided by 25.
A list of potential respondents has been prepared for only Nepali citizens aged 18 to 70 who have lived in the households selected for the interview for at least 6 months and who can hear, understand and respond to what the enumerator says. The ‘kiss grid’ method has been used to determine which household members to talk to. Only members selected through this method have been interviewed with prior consent for the interview. The members found at home or those met on the way were not interviewed. Only members selected through the scientific method of research have been interviewed.
During the survey, 38 enumerators were mobilized in 19 groups of 2/2 people for on-site interviews from Pus 17 to Magh 17. The margin of error of the survey is +/-5 percent. The questions asked for the interview and the answers were entered into mobile/tablets using the ‘Open Data Kit Software’. To ensure the quality of the data, GPS, field observation, field training, and feedback have been conducted for each household selected for the interview. In addition, about 15 percent of the interviews have been re-tested, while the contribution to the counter-enumerator interviews has been limited to only 2.6 percent. While selecting respondents in the provinces and municipalities, the actual proportion of the 2078 census has been used, and since gender selection is also based on the proportion of the census, these variables are 'self-weighted'.
