Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma was elected in 2007 on an anti-corruption platform, but according to the BBC, the only tangible “leakages” addressed so far, have been in restrooms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. The BBC’s Mark Doyle delivers a sarcastic but well researched discourse on the recent work of Sierra Leone’s…
Sorry, we know we’re late on this…but it’s worth cataloging, for the record, two of the Obama administration’s important steps towards restoring openness in American government. First is the “presumption in the favor of disclosure” that the new President has instructed all Federal agencies to abide by when fulfilling Freedom of Information Act requests. As…
After a long day of working with local researchers on corruption issues, your blogger finds himself awake and channel surfing at 4am. As it turns out, jihadist propaganda movies should never, ever be used as a jetlag cure. I flip on the tube, and with a few clicks get appalling clips of Israeli/Palestinian combat footage,…
I’m back on the road this week, this time reporting on a visit to Cairo. Stalled at immigration control at Cairo International Airport, a run in with grumpy border guards has me thinking about accountability, rule of law… and the Bush legacy. As I walk into the chaotic Cairo terminal, I’m jumpy about my visa…
Our friends at the International Budget Partnership will be releasing their 2008 Open Budget Index on February 1. For those not familiar, the Index and its component country reports are among the most in-depth assessments of national-level budget transparency available. This is must-read material for those working on transparency and accountability issues. Via email: How…
We just noticed that one of our (personal) Facebook friends became a supporter of, “Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich – The Greatest Statesman of Modern Russia.” Why we think this is interesting: the president has 18,925 Facebook supporters! For those that bemoan Russia’s slide back to authoritarianism (our hands our raised too), remember: this isn’t happening in…