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    February 13, 2012

Fight against Corruption Goes High Tech in Kenya

   Anthony Ragui says his website I Paid a Bribe collects stories about
   bribes paid as well as those who refused to be bribed

   James Butty
   A handful of anti-corruption demonstrators hold a chain during a
   protest in downtown Nairobi, 17 Feb 2010 (file photo)
   Photo: AP
   A handful of anti-corruption demonstrators hold a chain during a
   protest in downtown Nairobi, 17 Feb 2010 (file photo)

   The founder of a new website aimed at fighting corruption has called on
   Kenyans to harness their collective energy against graft. The website I
   Paid a Bribe allows Kenyans to share their experiences with corruption.

   Founder Anthony Ragui said Kenyans are fed up with bribery that is
   often at the heart of corruption.

   'One of the things that happens in Kenya is that Kenyans like to talk
   all the time. But, because of changes in the world, a lot of this is
   being done in social blogs, in the social media, on Facebook and all
   that. All of us young people are all complaining about corruption, and
   I think ultimately what I got tired of was all of complaining about all
   these things and doing nothing about it, and I thought that I needed to
   do something different from what was being done,' he said.

   Ragui said he drew some inspiration to start the website from the 'Arab
   Spring' uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East.

   'In Tunisia, it took one person to put himself on fire to have a change
   in that country; in Egypt, it took a very strong person to be able to
   bring some change in Egypt, and I'm saying it also takes one person to
   make a difference,' Ragui said.

   The website, launched January, is divided into three sections. One
   section collects stories about bribes paid listing the amount, as well
   as where and when the incident occurred.

   Another section collects information about people who have refused to
   pay bribes and the third provides a forum for instances of honesty,
   when a bribe was not required.

   Ragui said, while he may not be able to completely reveal every corrupt
   practice, he would be a happy man if he could change one government
   ministry.

   'What I'm hoping is that, by harnessing the energy of Kenyans and
   citizens in Africa, we can be able to change how things are done in our
   continent because, remember, that corruption creates networks of people
   who are corrupt, and these people make money through corruption. My
   hope, therefore, is that, [by] using the data we are going to be able
   to harness from this site, we can be able to change even if it's one
   department and how many bribes are paid into it, then we would make a
   difference,' Ragui said.

   He said, while government officials tend to benefit from what he calls
   'grand corruption,' many of the poor in Africa suffer from 'petite
   bribery.'

   'The problem with petite bribery, which is really what we are trying to
   get [at], is that it affects the poor people, in their villages, in
   their little towns, and in their big towns from small little things
   like getting the proper kind of service,' he said.

   Ragui said his website encourages every Kenyan to feel free to say what
   is not going right in their community.

   He said he has met with the World Bank and other organizations asking
   for funding that would make his website more interactive.

   'There are a couple of things I want to do. One of them is that I want
   to do something that I think would be very powerful. I'm hoping to get
   some donors to help with that, and [that] is building an SMS interface
   onto the website which then can be used by the ordinary Kenyan to
   report a bribe via cell phone on an SMS that will go to the database
   and be uploaded to the site,' he said.

   Ragui said, by building the SMS interface, he will be able to reach
   more Kenyans than he is able to do right now.