COMPLAINTS
 COMPLAINTS ANONYMOUS
 BE A WHISTLE BLOWER

COMPLAINTS

TI exists to empower civil society to participate in efforts to fight corruption. There are many ways in which individuals and groups can act to help achieve this. Here are a few ideas. But if you have more, do send us your suggestions so that we can add them.

Public Debate
There were times when many of us felt inhibited about discussing corruption. But in most places the subject is no longer taboo. Ask yourself and your friends why things seem to be going wrong, and how things might be put to rights. Read the TI Source Book for concepts underpinning the system and for ideas as to how systems can be made more transparent and accountable. Write letters to newspapers if there are those willing to publish them (but try to suggest improvements, not just complain about the way things are at present). From small things, big movements grow.

Getting hold of official information and taking it to the people affected
Groups are campaigning for access to official information. Then when they have the legal right to it, getting information of e.g. small scale development projects at the village level, taking it out into the villages and informing the people there. They know who has really been paid, and how much. By having village meetings with officials there, officials are asked to explain why the money has not gone where it should have, and can be shamed into changing their behaviour in future. One concrete example is documented in the Working Paper Campaign in rural India

Whistleblowers
The most effective thing that individuals can do is to complain when they see corruption occurring. This can be difficult when it is your superiors who you see misbehaving--but then, sometimes what less senior people see is not necessarily the whole story, and there can be innocent explanations. You don't want to go confronting an honest boss with a complaint that they are corrupt! Yet unless people have the confidence to raise their concerns with people they (a) trust and (b) are in a position to do something about it, then nothing is ever going to get better. Initiate discussion within your own ORGANIZATION and with your friends about how existing complaints mechanisms are working (or not), and see whether there is room for any of you to take an initiative to improve them. One NGO that exists specifically to advise potential "whistleblowers" is Public Concern at Work.

Form an "integrity circle"
If you are working in a department etc. with a bad reputation for corruption, join together with a small group of your colleagues and form an "Integrity Circle"--with all of you agreeing with the others that you will not be involved in corrupt activities and will support each other if anyone has any problems over this refusal. Declare your office a "Corruption-Free Zone", put up signs saying "Please do not offer bribes as we do not accept them" or "Bribes are unnecessary--We are paid by the state to serve you"... etc. Tell us about further ideas so we can include them here. Encourage other friends in other departments etc. to do the same. Inject a "seed of integrity" into the administrative body and see if it can take it over. Get your managers' support in writing.

Simplification of systems to remove opportunities
When you see opportunities to remove unnecessary blockages in systems that serve no useful purpose but which create opportunities for bribes to be extorted from the public, write to responsible people (Ministers, Members of Parliament/Legislature, newspapers etc.) drawing attention to the reforms needed to remove these.