Hatari: Battling Corruption in Kenya

In the 2011 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index, Kenya is ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world, coming in at #154 out of 182 countries on a list that ranks countries from least corrupt to most corrupt. In fact, bribery is such a common practice in Kenya that it's estimated that Kenyans pay, on average, 16 bribes per month.

But now Kenyans are fighting back against their country's stigma, and in order to do so they’re using the power of the Internet and of crowdsourcing. Hatari, which means "danger" in Swahili, is the name of the new platform that Kenyans are using to report incidents of crime and corruption in the city of Nairobi.

If a Kenyan is asked for a bribe by the police, he is now able to report it to the website. The civilian can pinpoint the exact location of the incident on an online map and write a small report describing what happened. The website staff will try, whenever possible, to verify the incidents.

Bribery incidents are very easy to report. If the simplicity of using the website isn't enough, one can also send a text message to Hatari's number or utilize the hashtags #hatari and #nairobi on Twitter to detail what happened . The platform also allows Nairobi residents to subscribe to receive alerts whenever a new incident occurs.

[For] many Kenyans, bribery is personal, and it occurs on an almost daily basis. One survey by Transparency International estimated that Kenyans pay an average of 16 bribes each month, even though the majority of Kenyans live on less than $1 a day. At police checkpoints, police may demand a bribe in lieu of writing a ticket for a traffic violation. At government offices, a bureaucrat may demand a bribe in order to speed up a lengthy procedure, such as registering a business.
Scott Baldauf, Senior International Correspondent at Christian Science Monitor