Abstract
A corruption free society is a prerequisite for the development and good governance. Mostly, corruption is seen to impede the development process of the third world countries. Nevertheless, there are numerous efforts taken to prevent corruption in the public sector of those countries. One of the main strategies used to curb the institutionalized corruption in the public sector today is that use of e-governance, a byproduct of ICT, which is as an efficient and effective strategy. According to Robert Klitgaard’s (1988) definition on corruption, i.e., Corruption = Monopoly + Discretion – Accountability. When the monopoly and the discretion power of the public sector officials increase in decision making and implementation, it leads to decrease the accountability of public sector officials and it tends to increase corrupt practices. So, this study aimed at identifying how e-governance may play a role to diminish the monopoly and the discretion power of the public sector officials and thereby curbing the institutionalized corruption in the public sector. When it observes the strength of the e-governance as a strategy some of the examples were drawn from the Sri Lankan context. The study is totally based on secondary data. Books, articles, statistical records, relevant reports and websites were used as the sources of data. Largely a descriptive analysis method was used in the analysis of data. The study reveals that the use of ICT enhances the transparency and accountability of the public sector activities largely and by being more accountable to the duties; goods and services are efficiently being provided to the people.
Highlights
Corruption is recognized as a major impediment for development and good governance mostly in the developing world though it is never confined to that region only
The use of e-governance in curbing corruption can be considered as a partial tool and is not a comprehensive solution to reduce the monopoly of the government
The administrative malpractices refer to the characteristics such as “resistance to change, rigid adherence to rules, reluctance to delegate authority, sycophancy toward superiors, "target" mentality, indifference to the standards of efficiency, ignorance of the purposes behind regulations, generalist-elitist orientation combined with hostility toward technology, overstaffing, corruption, xenophobia, and nepotism” (Caiden,1991:488)
Summary
Corruption is recognized as a major impediment for development and good governance mostly in the developing world though it is never confined to that region only. As Iqbal and Seo (2008, 51) point out corruption is “sky high”, “very serious”, “an epidemic”, “highly common”, “a social ill”, “a major crisis”, “at an alarming stage”, and “extreme” in the Third World. Even though e-governance is not the first and last method to curb corruption in the public sector, it is being practiced very efficiently in the developed countries and in a few developing countries as well. Developing countries have succeeded much in implementing e-governance. Their efforts to apply the tools and strategies of egovernance have been visible since the last couple of decades
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