TI Georgia presents Georgia National Integrity System assessment for 2015

Transparency International Georgia presented yet another report on the Georgian National Integrity System (NIS), which reflects both the positive and negative changes that have taken place in the system from 2011 until 2015. The report covers the following institutions: the legislature, the executive branch, the judiciary, the public administration, the law enforcement agencies, the electoral administration, the ombudsman, the supreme audit institution, political parties, media, civil society and business. The institutions are assessed according to a set of indicators including resources, independence, transparency, accountability, integrity and the institution’s role in preventing corruption. Every institution’s legal framework and practical operation are assessed separately.

According to TI Georgia, NIS measures “the strength of the institutions that each play an important role in terms of establishing good governance, increasing transparency and accountability and therefore preventing corruption in the country.”

NIS states that in the last four years, notable progress was made in the electoral administration, the media, the civil society and the judiciary. The executive branch and the law enforcement agencies received in the report lower aggregate scores compared to 2011.

In the report, TI Georgia noted that one of the major problems remains to be signs of informal external influence over the executive branch which reduces its independence and lack of independence for the Parliament to effectively oversee the government’s activities, as well as cases of nepotism and selective application of justice in the criminal cases against former public officials.

Based on the findings, TI Georgia has several recommendations for strengthening the national integrity system. Recommendations include improvement of the legal provisions preventing corruption and conflict of interest in public service, as well as their enforcement practice. Progress must continue toward the establishment of more equal electoral conditions for political parties, which requires the elimination of the electoral system’s remaining problems and provision of political parties with more even access to resources and an independent and professional civil service free from political influence must be established.