RAMALLAH, April 27, 2011 (WAFA) - The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) held its seventh annual conference Tuesday to discuss the report of transparency and combating corruption in the Palestinian Authority’s institutions, and addressed several core issues in governance.

The report illustrated significant progress in several sectors including education, health, transportation and water in terms of combating corruption.

In the health sector, there were major cuts and more selection in providing medical treatment abroad, with more rigorous criteria applied. There was also noticeable improvement in storing medicine and medical supplies, and an overall improvement of health services in public hospitals in the last two years.

In the finance sector, while the report showed improvement in terms of maintaining public money, it, however, criticized and pointed out the squandering of public funds through the “ghost-employee” phenomenon, excessive travel expenses and wage bills - the main area of waste of public money. The necessary detailed procedures have not been finalized, which will lead to less transparency and serve in hindering the PA’s work.

Concerning the education sector, the report pointed out that the Ministry of Higher Education has improved procedures at announcing scholarships and study grants and adopting more transparent and integral selection criteria. Some problems remain with university grants due to the lack of  coordination between the ministry and Palestinian universities. 

The report discussed the situation in the ranks of military and security units, which suffer from unjust distribution and poor selection of grants and scholarships. The issue of hiring by the Ministry of Higher Education is also affected by corruption due to political reasons.

Transportation was one of the biggest issues discussed, with government vehicles being misused by public servants and their family members outside work hours. The ministry of transportation had received over 50 complaints, 42 of which were fully followed up on and led to several public servants being denied the use of these vehicles. The Council of Ministers also took a decision to withdraw government vehicles and restrict licenses for the same.

Regarding the water sector, the report said: “although the water authority has been working on a plan to reconstruct and restructure the water system to present to the Palestinian legislative council, it was not published to the concerned parties in 2010, especially after the large-scale developments in supplying water to areas that did not previously have it. Some issues relating to technical problems are still pending.”

Chair of Board of Directors of AMAN, Hanan Ashrawi, said: “Once again, we hold this meeting with the presence of internal division and its dangerous consequences on the Palestinian situation, especially on transparency and good governance.” She added that “occupation is the biggest obstacle standing in the way of ending corruption and accomplishing transparency.”

Ashrawi said that AMAN could not communicate with Gaza this year due to the complications of the siege and closures, in addition to the lack of commitment to fight corruption and adopt the methods of transparency and accountability.

The conference was attended by the ministers of the discussed sectors. They thanked and praised AMAN for its hard work in helping to increase Palestine’s readiness for statehood, and assured AMAN that the PA considers this issue of great importance.

Head of the Norwegian mission to the PA, Tor Wennesland, said that the biggest impediment to accomplishing transparency and corruption is the internal division and presence of two governments. He said Norway will continue to support the Palestinian Authority 'for as long as it takes, five or 10 years.”

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad attended the conference and said that “we are proud of the anti-corruption committee and of AMAN. It is time we take control of our future and base our nation on justice. We assure you that no act of corruption will be shown impunity.”

M.N./F.J.