2008 Assessment

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

Country Facts: Statistical context for each country.

Nicaragua's government is plagued by political influence with poor accountability across all branches of government. The civil service has little to no independence, as was seen "when the FSLN came to power in 2007 [and] the firing in the first three month period was estimated at about 3,00 to 5,000 [civil servants]." The Ombudsman rarely hears cases from citizens as "no cases are even brought up to his office" by individuals. Instead, critics argue that the agency has become a tool of the executive. In addition, problems in regulating state-owned enterprises reflect difficulties associated with the total or partial privatization of the majority of state-owned enterprises, with only the water company remaining under complete state control.