MOI: Corruption monitor could investigation stories
The Ministry of Information has welcomed USAID’s recent publication of a monthly review focusing on corruption in Cambodia, but has asked that it is expanded and its quality strengthened.
After meeting with USAID Country Mission Director Erin Soto on Jan 24, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith claimed that the review, already published twice, is good enough, but that more staff are needed to guarantee the accuracy of each article and to know how deeply investigations are being made.
The minister suggested that an ongoing investigation should be held for every published article as this would help to gain insight into what extent government reforms are discouraging people from engaging in corruption.
The corruption review just quotes news articles from different media and is distributed to only a few ministry, senate and assembly members, he said, suggesting that the review should also be given to libraries and universities.
There are currently two NGOs conducing corruption reviews and some local institutes are also preparing articles on the topic, he added.
He said that the first step will be difficult as it is not easy to contact relevant people because they don’t answer journalist’s calls and refuse to talk, but if the review shows its neutrality to contribute toward government’s reforms, it will definitely receive more support, he concluded. Kampuchea Thmey, Jan 25
(Source: Corruption Monitor Bulletin, Issue 3, February 2008)