NACC Addresses Concerns by Using ITA to Assess and Enhance Government Sector Performance
จากไชต์: Office of The National Anti - Corruption Commission (ONACC)
จำนวนผู้เข้าชม: 176
NACC Addresses Concerns by Using ITA to Assess and Enhance Government Sector Performance
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) of Thailand is taking steps to alleviate concerns by utilizing Integrity and Transparency Assessment (ITA) as a tool to help government agencies improve and develop their organizational efficiency. The aim is to better serve the public and elevate the standard of government operations.
Niwatchai Kasemmongkol, the Secretary-General of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), disclosed that Thailand continues to grapple with deeply rooted “issues of corruption” that permeate every facet of society. This includes politicians, public servants, businesspersons, and the general populace. The issue is increasingly making headlines, ranging from “small-scale or petty corruption” instances involving bribes in public services, to “mid-level” cases where businesses face under-the-table payments for approvals, to “large-scale or grand corruption including political corruption and policy corruption” that includes abuse of power for personal or group gain. Numerous instances have emerged where high-ranking officials have accepted bribes for positions before being apprehended by the police and the NACC, complete with evidence and lists of illegal payment channels.
To address this, the NACC has employed ITA, an assessment tool it has developed to evaluate the performance of government agencies. The focus is on “creatively improving the Thai governmental system rather than merely finding faults.” It serves as an annual organizational health check-up to identify gaps in fairness and transparency, which will ultimately contribute to preventing corruption and misconduct within the Thai government system. Additionally, ITA assesses the "service to the public" to be aware of the current state and work-related issues. This will help government agencies to use the insights for organizational development, aiming to efficiently serve the public and raise the standards of government operations.
For this year, "8,323 government agencies nationwide participated in the assessment," collecting sample data from over one million individuals. This includes 420,000 government employees, who were evaluated using ITA (Integrity and Transparency Assessment) tools across five indicators:
1) Duty Performance
2) Budget Utilization
3) Use of Power
4) Utilization of Government Assets and
5) Anti-corruption Efforts.
The maximum score is 30 out of 100, and respondents must authenticate themselves through OTP and specify their agency's code to prevent identity fraud.
Next is the "Public Service Users section with 580,000 individuals," assessed using EIT (External Integrity & Transparency Assessment) on three indicators:
1) Quality of Operations
2) Communication Efficiency, and
3) System Improvements.
Lastly, information was disclosed through OIT (Open Data Integrity and Transparency Assessment).
Nevertheless, the ITA assessment opens opportunities for the public and officials to reflect on inequities and inefficiencies in the performance of government agencies. This propels the "government" to better support agencies in meeting the public's needs, especially for smaller local administrative organizations that often face budget and personnel constraints. From here on, ITA scores will motivate affiliated agencies to address these weaknesses.
Niwatchai further stated that the ITA acts like a mirror, reflecting whether the agency is transparent or not. Sometimes government agencies fail to see their own shortcomings, so public feedback through the ITA system leads to improvements, particularly in leadership management. This often results in comparisons with agencies from the same province, making ITA a factor in job transfers as well.
This ITA tool has also been accepted and adopted in several countries, such as South Korea, for evaluating the moral integrity of operations before being adopted in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bhutan, Mongolia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Thailand.
In 2023, the Office of the NACC of Thailand (National Anti-Corruption Commission) will disclose all assessment results, whether it be the total scores, individual tool scores, or issues regarding service payments, gifts, and other benefits obtained through various approvals.
This aims to motivate "government agencies" to analyze the assessment results and make necessary adjustments in their organizations. It also allows the public to validate the authenticity of the assessment scores, which still require ongoing system development. The focus will be on assessing law enforcement agencies, corruption, and integrating the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) to evaluate power structures, aiming to "reinforce ethical and transparent conduct in government agencies leading to improved governance and reduced opportunities for corrupt behavior."
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