How Power Distancing Mentality Hinders a Citizen’s Readiness to Report a Witnessed Corruption Incident in Tanzania.

Abstract

In this paper, citizen’s reportage of corruption means a citizen’s readiness to report a witnessed corruption incident to the anticorruption agencies. Citizens’ reportage of corruption is largely conditioned by a free will decision. In this study, the decision to report corruption or not, noted as a critical concern in anti-corruption efforts. The influence of the social-psychological factors, particularly a powerdistancing mind-set on a citizen's intentional behaviour to report a corruption event, has been utilized as a method to establish factors that would affect citizens to report witnessed corruption incidents in Tanzania. A case study was used. This paper used qualitative data collected in Lindi Municipal Council and Mwanza City Council to show, how a power-distance mind-set hinders citizens’ readiness to report witnessed corruption incident in Tanzania. The study determined that, Ethnic traditional values of displaying the elderly as untouchable and uncriticised may influence a social practice of remaining silent on those seen with power. The implications of this mentality may extend to different levels in the public sectors domain. The study sees a need for mediating the conceptualization of a power-distancing mentality to citizens’ reportage of corruption as an imperative (an avoidable reality).