Do not mask the truth: A policy blueprint for combating public corruption

Dr Assan Jallow

The refusal to acknowledge the reality of community corruption in The Gambia does not alter the perceptions and realities that people face. The slow, stagnant growth of wages, rising living costs, unemployment, and widespread inflation continue to worsen, affecting and frustrating citizens, with some caused by human-made activities through disastrous policies and poorly performing public programs. There is no display of grandeur in the presidency that can hide the empirical evidence. Therefore, when corruption diverts government funds and influences decision-making, it impacts all households, markets, and institutions. Consequently, corruption cannot be addressed solely through moral arguments; it is an economic and democratic issue.

The problem defined and its costs
Consider the case of a small contractor seeking a building permit. With a bribe, things are quicker, and the necessary safety checks are bypassed. The final result can be the construction of projects without consideration of safety standards, high prices charged by unethical companies, and increased risk to citizens without their approval. Procurement fraud, which gouges the costs of school supplies or hospital equipment, is a diversion of the funds: any misplaced unit of the currency that does not buy a textbook leaves a classroom empty, an understaffed hospital, and an unfinished bridge project. 

Defining the spectrum of corruption
Whenever corruption is discussed, it is commonly defined as the large-scale bribing at the highest levels of authority. It involves a continuum: nepotism in employment, patronage in awarding contracts, conflicts of interest in policy formulation, misappropriation of state resources, and petty bribery in service delivery. Fundamentally, corruption is the misuse of power by individuals, groups, or organisations to obtain personal gain (Pozsgai, 2020).

The real costs: Why it matters
Corruption entails drastic economic, social, and democratic consequences. It retards domestic and foreign investment economically by increasing uncertainty and transaction costs, market distortions, inefficiency, and the dissipation of limited public resources, which are particularly harmful to a small, open economy and undermine fiscal stability (Hanousek et al., 2021). Central to this is that the persistenceof corruption undermines institutional confidence, increases inequality, and institutionalises unfairness socially and politically, leading citizens to disengage. Democratically, it distorts the meaning of a representative, influences the policy in favor of short-term interests, undermines accountability, and frustrates the democratic legitimacy of the long term.

Pillars of a sound anti-corruption strategy
Transition: From Scandals to Systems
Ad-hoc reactions, reactive inquiries, or periodic indignations are not sufficient. Corruption is also systemic and adaptive, requiring a proactive, rules-based system to reorganise incentives and limit discretion. Three pillars are interrelated and reinforce one another, strengthening the strategy. 

Pillar 1: Transparency & open data
Policy implication
Require active disclosure of government expenditure, contracts in procurement, and non-governmental funding of political parties, and declarations of the assets of government officials in easy and machine-readable form. Transparency reduces information asymmetries, including abuse. Open budgets, registries of contracts, and disclosures of beneficial ownership make the citizenry, the media, and the checks and balances system prepared to detect the anomalies at an early stage.

Pillar 2: Accountability & independent oversight
Policy implication
The ACA needs to be sufficiently free by granting independent anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) sufficient independence, adequate funding, and prosecutorial power to hold criminals accountable. Whistleblowers must be provided with effective legal protections and rewards to encourage them to report corruption (Knežević, 2025). Transparency becomes actionable through accountability. The oversight agencies should be independent of politics, be manned by merit, and be adequately provided to detect and crack sophisticated financial offenses. Whistleblowers play the role of frontline watchmen, and unless this is guaranteed to them against retribution and there is a definite reporting channel, the wrong will go unnoticed. Plausible crime prevention is the answer to deterrence.

Pillar 3: Civic engagement & a culture of integrity
Policy implication
Civic education, support for investigative journalism, use of civil society watchdogs, and institutionalising ethics and conflict-of-interest training across the entire civil service can collectively help develop a stable, responsible government system. Norms cannot be replaced solely by laws.

Education, professional standards, and social accountability work together to foster a culture of clearly defined and sustained integrity initiatives. An empowered citizenry and a free press enhance oversight, and well-defined ethical rules clarify expectations (Modise & Modise, 2023). Integrity is the default trait: honesty is rewarded, and misconduct is costly with unbearable consequences.

Implementation, challenges, and conclusion
From paper to practice
Policies that are well formulated but poorly implemented do not work, and this is where three enablers come in. The most critical challenge is political goodwill, which requires cross-party cooperation, leadership by example, ongoing citizen pressure, and reforms that achieve initial success, which in turn builds credibility for the repeat. The role of technology tools is also significant, as e-governance minimises the discretion and contact points prone to corruption through e-procurement and the use of e-payments, as well as through internet-based services that leave audit trails.

Addressing counter-arguments
Arguments that corruption is too deeply rooted or culturally given are fallacious to the diagnosis. The facts in different situations make it clear that incentives and institutions influence behavior. By establishing clear, credible rules and ensuring transparency, corruption will decrease. Culture comes in the wake of structure; norms vary with changes in systems.

Conclusion: A call to action
The phenomenon of corruption is not part of nature; it is the logical result of the ineffectiveness of systems. Addressing it requires shifting the outrage into an ongoing, data-driven policy agenda based on prevention (transparency and design), enforcement (accountability and independence), and culture (civic engagement and integrity). The truth cannot be masked. Find the problem, fix the systems, and promise a fair, efficient, and trusted public sphere.