Remarks By U.S. Ambassador John L. Withers II at the Launch of the 2008 Corruption Perception and Experience Survey Conducted by IDRA and Funded by USAID (May 7, 2008)

Rector Kule, Dean Stringa, Distinguished guests,

I have spoken here in Albania on a number of issues. Most of them have been topics that make me very happy. Albania’s NATO invitation, the independence of Kosovo, even a little bit on Albanian culture and history. Today’s subject unfortunately is not one of those happy subjects; today’s subject is corruption.

Today we are releasing the findings of a USAID-funded survey, conducted by Director Pasha’s institution, on corruption in Albania. The survey tracks both the perception and experience of corruption by ordinary citizens. The news unfortunately is not good. According to the survey, 92% of Albanians says corruption is widespread among public officials and that is a decline of 8 points form a year ago. The report shows no progress in bribery indicators. Nearly 70% of people surveyed report paying a bribe for medical treatment. Nearly 60% have little or no trust in the judicial system. By a 3 to 1 margin, Albanians do not think the judges are impartial when conducting trials.

Director Pasha will give you more details and a full analysis of the report a bit later, so I will not go any further along those lines but these figures show that Albania has a serious corruption problem. Corruption affects all parts of Albanian society -- the economy, the potential for investment, Albania’s image abroad.

But I do not want to continue reciting numbers; I want to speak a little bit about how corruption affects ordinary people.  In my many many conversations with Albanians, not only here in Tirana but throughout the country, I have discovered that almost everyone has corruption stories to tell me. Let me give you just a few examples.

One told me of little children who were just learning their ABCs, their alphabet, being told the day before the Teachers Day, and I quote, “Tell your parents I do not want flowers tomorrow!” What kind of lesson is that for a seven year old child? What does that teach to a seven year old? What mindset is given to that seven year old for the future?

Several people told me about doctors who do not look at the patient’s medical record or even record the visit in the official register. Instead, the doctor asks the patient detailed questions about the income and their financial status. If the answer showed that the patient is poor, that patient gets no medical treatment. If the patient is well-to-do, the doctor starts calculating how high a fee he can get away with.

Many people have told me about their difficulties about getting basic documents like a driver’s license or birth certificates or property registration. They tell me how they have to wait hours or sometimes days or even weeks to get these basic documents for themselves unless they are willing to hand over 200, 500, 1000 leks or more in which case they go to the front of the line.

People expressed great frustration over the fact that the police will announce with great fanfare a serious corruption case against senior officials but then weeks pass, months pass, the charges are reduced, somehow the case goes away, somehow none is punished. Now let me be very very clear: corruption is not only an Albanian problem; corruption exists everywhere. There is a great deal of corruption in my own country, in the United States, and you can pick up any paper in the country and you can see reports of that corruption. But the critical ingredient is not that corruption exists, it is how we respond to corruption.

One of the things that I find troubling is that many times when I am speaking to my Albanian friends and I ask, “You told me all these stories about corruption. What should be done about it” and they reply by shrugging their shoulders and reply, “Mister Ambassador, this is not the U.S.; this is Albania.”

I do not accept that answer.

Albanians value honesty as much as any people in the world and as much as any people that I know. Albanians hate corruption. They hate the fact that the few who are corrupt spoil it for the many who are not.

And I particularly do not like the implication in that answer which implies that corruption is a symptom of Albanian culture; it is not. Anyone who knows the Albanian people knows that it is a violation of the ethical and moral code that Albanians have.

Albanian culture places honesty and integrity above all else. For Albanians, a promise given is a promise kept. And the principle of Besa, the quintessential Albanian virtue, is a bond that cannot be broken. So, I repeat, anyone who implies that corruption is natural to Albania is wrong; corruption is a violation of what it means to be Albanian.

So, what is to be done?

Let me talk about two particular topics. The first, addressing corruption is a high level responsibility. The political elite of this country must take charge in fighting corruption in a meaningful way not just through speeches and words. And when I say the political elite, let me be clear: I am not pointing at the government, or the opposition or any particular political party or individual; all of the political elite must take responsibility. And that means that political leaders must expose acts of corruption even by their colleagues.

They must not use influence to protect friends or relatives and they must not use political power to change the course of justice. The political elite of Albania should lead by example. One important straightforward step that can be done is to change the immunity law, which protects senior officials in courts, in Parliament and in other offices from prosecution. They should be as liable to prosecution as any Albanian citizen. Put another way, none should be immune from prosecution or illegal acts.

And the political leadership of Albania should empower the institutions that seek justice; empower the prosecutors who go after the criminals; and, should make clear that whoever the suspect is, regardless of wealth, regardless of family ties, regardless of political connections, is subject to prosecution.

Let me cite one case as an example of what I mean: I was very pleased that in the most recent the Human Rights report, the HRR for 2007, there were no reports of violence against journalists. However, the day before the report was released, a member of parliament Tom Doshi, beat a journalist for asking tough questions. Next year’s human rights report will not give Albania a passing mark in that category. An investigation into the case has been promised but no further word has been forthcoming.

I cannot judge whether Mr. Doshi was guilty or innocent in what he did but my question is will there be a fair hearing? And I also ask the question: What is the media doing? The media has an important role, particularly in protecting one of its own. As far as I am aware no newspaper reported this incident until days after it occurred; my question is: are they following it now? And is it not their duty to be following up?

The second theme that I would like to discuss is public responsibility. And by that I mean citizens who see corruption or victims of corruption, protesting it, criticizing it, exposing the incidents of corruption, demanding more of the leadership to do something about corruption.  The professions can police their own; the professions can assist in eliminating corruption from within the profession.

For example, if nothing happens to the doctor who takes bribes, the names of hundreds of doctors who save lives is smeared.

If nothing happens to the judge who drives a 30,000 Euro Touareg, the names of judges who issue fair and just decision every day, is smeared.

If nothing happens to the police officers who tip criminals of upcoming police raids, the whole 15,000 police officers force is smeared and weakened.

If nothing happens to the official who one day wakes up rich, the entire public administration is smeared and weakened.

I do not accept the answer that there is nothing that can be done about corruption.

None can convince me that what are called “të fortë” in this country are more powerful than the thousands of parents who want decent education for their children or for young people like yourselves who want to live here in a free, open, and honest society. If people take charge, good things happen.

I heard the story of a hospital administrator in a northern city who learned that the nurses were demanding bribes to tell patients where the doctors’ offices were located. She simply put up signs showing the way to the Doctors’ office and that reduced the bribes.

I heard of one agency that issues a certain documents that ended the problem of people jumping the queue through payment of a bribe by setting up an appointment system: a person arrived at a certain time, met a relevant officer, and paid no bribes.

What is the importance of a citizen taking responsibility – let me read a quote by a very respected Albanian Anton Harapi who said this before he was executed in 1947 – “Do you know that the foundations of a building are laid in the ground? Even though buried we have to be the foundation of the building we call Albania.”

Ladies and gentlemen, corruption is not a game; it is a war.
There is one and only one reason for the words I told you today: and that is because I know you can win that war, because my government wants you to win that war and because every Albanian wants to win.

Thank you very much.