RSTA found prone to corruption

6 March 2010

An integrity assessment jointly conducted by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and National Statistics Bureau (NSB) in 2009 found that vehicle registration and licensing procedures of Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) was prone to corruption. The assessment rated the total integrity of the organization at 6.48 out of 10.

Under the findings, personal attitude was rated 5.26, working environment 4.67 (average) and corruption control 6.11 (good).

Most of the complaints until 2009 had been about the misuse of property, deception, coercion, bribery, collusion and nepotism, according to the assessment. More corruption was found in licensing procedures than in vehicle registration.

In a presentation made by ACC and NSB officials in Phuentsholing this week, they pointed out that RSTA needed to improve and strengthen its services and corruption control measures.

RSTA Director, Tashi Norbu, said the authority hadn’t received any written complaint so far but he admitted that there was tendency for corruption including inappropriate ways of dealing with the public.

Citing instances of corruption, the director mentioned a recent case of corruption in the organization where an employee had taken bribes for registration of vehicles for a company.

The director said that the Bhutanese culture of helping relatives has to be done away with. “The findings would be set as a baseline to reassess the organization in December this year,” he said.

The findings recommended a need to improve administrative system and working environment by eliminating common practices of giving bribes and gifts.

The administrative burden assessment carried out by a multi-sector taskforce with representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Royal Institute of Management and ACC in 2008 found that 32 services caused administrative burden in the organisation.

The multi-sector taskforce, which looked into public service delivery and interpreted it in monetary terms through a standard cost model, found that the time taken to deliver public service by RSTA amounted to Nu 29.123 million representing 0.06 percent of gross domestic product.

The study took into account the total number of vehicles and the population affected by Road Safety and Transport Act and Regulation 1999.

The taskforce also studies public service delivery in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Thimphu City Corporation.

By Pushkar Chhertri

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