By Alia Shukri Hamzeh 

AMMAN — A new opinion poll released Wednesday reveals that citizens have little faith in the government’s ability to combat corruption and believe nepotism, fraud and graft have increased in both the private and public sectors.

The majority of persons surveyed also expect such practices to rise further in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the poll, conducted by the University of Jordan’s Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS), also showed that three quarters of the respondents from the survey’s national sample said they have not heard or are unaware of any cases of alleged corruption being examined by the authorities.

Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit’s government this year initiated legal proceedings involving four major entities in connection with alleged acts of corruption. The government referred the Jordan Magnesia Company, the Islamic Centre Charity Society, the General Union for Voluntary Societies, and former and present officials of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to the prosecutor general for investigation.

The poll, conducted over two samples — the national sample of 1,148 citizens from different walks of life and the opinion leaders’ sample of 626 figures including political party leaders, journalists and columnists, academics and politicians — shows that the majority of Jordanians believe corruption grew over the past three to four years.

As to where corruption is prevalent, 64.7 per cent of respondents from the national sample believe that corruption is rampant within the public sector, and 52.1 per cent said it was more widespread in the private sector.

These latest figures are higher for both sectors than they were in the 2002 CSS poll on corruption.

From the national sample, the perception of the incidence of corruption was nearly equal in the public and private sectors. The data shows 46 per cent said corruption in the public sector increased, while 46.9 per cent said the practice rose in the private sector.

The opinion leaders’ sample showed parallel figures: 46.3 per cent said corruption grew in the public sector, while 47.3 said it increased in the private sector.

Both samples believe corruption would rise even further over the next three years: Around 45 per cent of the national sample and 43 per cent of the opinion leaders. Still, 31 per cent of the opinion leaders said they believed corruption would decrease in the coming three years.

By contrast, 18 per cent of the national sample said the phenomenon would decrease.

“The fact that a majority of Jordanians believe that corruption increased and predict it to grow further is a grave sign. It is in fact dangerous because it reflects a general sense of pessimism that the phenomena would be tackled,” CSS pollster Mohammad Masri said.

He told reporters during the release of the poll that such an expectation also reflects a lack of faith in the government’s current measures to combat all forms of corruption and people’s disassociation with efforts towards that goal.

Over the past decade, corruption has been one of the three priorities citizens believe the government should immediately act on, CSS polls have shown.

According to Transparency International’s 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index, Jordan ranked 37 with a score of 5.7 on a scale of 10 (clean) to zero (highly corrupt). Iceland scored highest at 9.7.

The index defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country’s public officials and politicians.

Only 159 of the world’s 193 countries are included in the survey, due to an absence of reliable data from the remaining countries.

A score of 5.0 is the number Transparency International regards as the borderline figure distinguishing countries that do and do not have a serious corruption problem.

Jordan’s rate improved from the 2004 index of 5.3.

Although four major cases of alleged corruption have been referred to the prosecutor general, only 25 per cent of the national sample respondents said they knew of the government’s measures. Of the 25 per cent, 37.7 per cent could not name any of the four cases.

On the other hand, the majority of opinion leaders (85 per cent) said they were aware that the government referred cases to the prosecutor general, and only 12 per cent said they were unaware of these actions.

Asked if they could name the cases, 68.2 per cent mentioned the Ministry of Municipal Affairs’ case that implicates a former minister for authorising the purchase of used sanitation equipment for around JD4.5 million. The purchase was allegedly made although the specifications required for the equipment were not met.

Most respondents said they were aware of the other cases only after being reminded by the pollsters.

“The current government believes it was active in combating corruption and has managed to act on several cases. But, it seems to have failed in attracting people’s attention or even developing public support,” Masri said.

He added that citizens’ ignorance of the measures taken also reflects a lack of confidence in the government.

Asked what were the reasons for the spread of corruption, the national sample listed poverty, certain actions by senior officers in both the private and public sectors and a weak legal system as the three primary reasons.

Opinion leaders placed a weak judiciary as the main reason followed by actions of senior officers in both sectors and lack of institutionalisation in public and private companies. Poverty ranked fourth.

The national and opinion leaders’ samples both accused senior public and private sector officers of spreading corruption most, followed by politicians and businessmen.

Both samples also point to nepotism and “wasta” as the most prevalent form of corruption in the country. The national sample and opinion leaders, however, differed over bribery and misuse of office as the second most prevalent, followed by embezzlement, forgery and blackmail.