Study: Graft tops Tanzanians’ concerns

RUCCI

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Oct 6, 2011
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Corruption among political leaders, crime, unreliable electricity supply and water pollution are leading causes of concern to Tanzanians, a new study has shown.

Other issues causing wananchi sleepless nights are traffic jams, air pollution and poor healthcare, according to the 2014 Pew Research Centre survey.

Nine out of every 10 Tanzanians, or 90 per cent, today feel their political leaders have become more corrupt than elsewhere in Africa, according to the 2014 Pew Research Centre survey. Their thinking is that their leaders have become more corrupt than they were in 2007, when a similar study was done.

Tanzania's rating of the corruption cancer was highest among 34 emerging and developing countries surveyed, topping countries such as Nigeria and Kenya that have traditionally fared poorly in levels of corruption perception.

In the study, Tanzanians have the most number of those who are worried about corruption-nine in ten. Others, with their percentage in brackets: Uganda (87), Nigeria (88), Ghana (85) and Kenya at 77 per cent rounded out the Top Five African nations in corruption perception.

Tanzania has also seen the largest swing in corruption perception over the last seven years, from 68 per cent in 2007 to 90 per cent this year, according to the survey by the US organisation.

The survey interviewed 38,620 respondents from March to June this year in 34 countries including nine in Africa.

Tanzania is followed closely by Tunisia where 89 per cent of citizens feel corruption was their biggest problem. Colombia came third with 87. Other African countries surveyed are South Africa (70) and Senegal (66).

The last study was conducted when President Jakaya Kikwete's government was barely two years in office and the current one has come out with just one year to election of a new administration.

Crime is the second nightmare at 84 per cent, up from 62 in 2007. In Africa, it is second only to Nigeria with 88 and Ghana and Uganda with 85 each. Kenya followed closely with 83, Senegal 82 and South Africa 72.

At global level, Tunisia, which together with Egypt falls under the Middle East category, emerged tops with 93 per cent rate in crime, followed by Colombia and El Salvador with 90 each. Argentina follows with 89, Pakistan 87, Chile and Venezuela 86 each and India 85.

Tanzanian has posted percentages higher than overall median for all countries which are 76 for corruption and 83 for crime.

Poor quality of schools came out as the third top most concern for Tanzanians according to the public perception survey. Citizens interviewed rated it at 84 this year, up from just 42 recorded in 2007. This is second to Uganda's and Ghana's 76 and 69 respectively. Kenyans expressed 49 per cent dissatisfaction with the quality of education.

But on a positive note, Tanzanians have highly rated their public institutions surveyed with the military and the media polling 90 and 95 per cent of satisfaction respectively, up from 85 and 86 respectively in 2007. All surveyed countries generally gave the media high ratings, but Tanzanians topped the count. Uganda and Nigeria also viewed the media highly (94 and 90 respectively), while 88 per cent of Kenyans thought the media was in the black.

The media rating for Tanzania was surprising because despite State controls, it still earned a higher rating than the government itself, which has an 83 per cent rating.

Other institutions surveyed with their percentage of satisfaction in the bracket are religious leaders (96 per cent), financial institutions (88) corporations (82) central government (83) civil servants (79) and court (69). Generally, the survey found that crime is seen as a very big problem by a median of 83 per cent across the 34 emerging and developing economies surveyed.

A median of 76 per cent across 34 countries said corrupt political leaders are a very big problem in their country. This comprises the top spot in 10 of the countries surveyed, including in China, where 54 per cent said corrupt officials are a big concern.

Outstandingly, Africans are far and away the most concerned about corruption, with a median of 85 per cent though the issue also emerged in other regions including Eastern Europe. In Russia and Ukraine, 65 per cent and 73 per cent respectively cited corrupt political leaders as a top problem.

A median of 59 per cent across emerging and developing markets said healthcare is a very big concern. But overall, Latin Americans, Africans and Middle Easterners are more worried about health care than Asian publics.

While no emerging country cited poor quality schools as its greatest problem, a median of 56 per cent were very worried about this issue with concern appearing to be greatest in Africa and Latin America. A global median of 54 per cent rated both water and air pollution as a very big problem.

Also, a median of 50 per cent said food safety was a pressing issue. Concern for the safety of food was greater in the Middle East and Latin America compared to Africa and Asia. In 14 nations, the military received the highest ratings among all the institutions and groups tested. Nine-in-ten or more in Tunisia, Senegal, Lebanon, Vietnam and Tanzania ranked it as a good influence.

Overall, a median of 79 per cent said the military was a good influence on the way things are going in their country, while only 18 per cent said it was a bad influence.

Source:The Citizen

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/Gr...40392/2526020/-/item/1/-/t4rmg6z/-/index.html
 
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