Some of the experts interviewed stressed that public perception of the state in general is negative and that this impacts the service, which impacts professional development and can organizational climate of the institutions, because they socialize an lead to political patronage and favoritism, undermining its external perception into the internal environment, which affects the loyalty to the public and diverting it toward a political party image that civil servants have of the institutions where they perform of the “boss” in power. The high rate of staff turnover can their duties. The negative internal perception fosters a belief in the jeopardize the stability of management and the continuity advisability of taking opportunistic decisions and undermines the needed to carry out reforms. institution’s integrity from the bottom up. Furthermore, the same public officials who know their institutions well from the inside may have a bad impression of their institutions and directors. The loss of trust in institutions has one of its roots in this deeply The survey conducted by the Office of the Comptroller General entrenched practice in Latin American public administrations. In of the Republic of Chile with 16,000 persons shows a distressing most of the six countries consulted for the present note, the heavy perception of corruption in the state. According to this poll, those influence of politically motivated appointments to public office on areas where there is the greatest corruption are government discretionary recruitment of staff has been observed, which in turn procurement (71.8 %) and staff recruitment (65.3 %). What is leads to high staff turnover, owing to the changes in said posts (as most striking, however, is that 31 % of the persons interviewed in Peru), an accumulation of persons with precarious employment were public officials themselves. Behind these perceptions there (as in Chile) or who are permanently transient (as in Argentina), may be a belief that decision-making systems and processes, resorting to subcontracting/outsourcing services (as in Colombia), for example, for government procurement in an emergency, are or even a failure to provide protection to those dismissed for vulnerable and that the rules governing them can be bent if there political reasons. is someone with enough power to do so. b. There is a traditional lack of political will on the c. To secure better integrity performance from public part of government authorities to restrict their institutions, it is necessary to build up their capa city discretionary powers for staff recruitment. for responding ethically. The experts consulted observe that, in government procurement Today public institutions and governments are subject to greater processes in their countries, the influence of political authorities public scrutiny than a few years ago, and public responsiveness over decision-making in recruiting staff and keeping them in office to suspicions of corruption is even more acute during an epidemic. is strong and that this discretionary power impacts, to varying Institutions have encountered a scenario with greater urgency, degrees, the meritocracy in government administrations and but also greater discretionary power in their decision making and senior officials. This challenge has been identified by the OECD incentives to be more opaque, while also subject to greater demand when it points out the following: for them to be held accountable for the outcomes of their decisions and use of public resources to tackle the emergency. In the region, high staff turnover in the civil service is In short, public institutions have encountered a high risk of more the norm than the exception and this is fostered probable whistleblowing and scandal. To respond to this risk, they by its heavy dependence on political cycles. The survey need technical and political competencies, but also institutional of experts on the quality of governance (…) confirms capabilities for integrity. The scandals of corruption in certain that public administration in Latin America is strongly countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Peru, or Colombia, have politicized, which on average (3.0) is perceived to be shown that the failure of internal oversight mechanisms were to below the average for G20 countries (4.4) and OECD blame, as well as the importance of the message being transmitted countries (4.6). In fact, even countries with the highest from top management. It also shows that public institutions against ratings, Brazil and Costa Rica, obtained scores below which charges are brought do not always have the capacity to the average for G20 and OECD countries (Figure 3.3). anticipate and respond to integrity risks. In cases of overcharging, This is an indicator of the extent to which politics and/ it seems there is no institutional capacity for assessing risks, or political affiliation influences recruitment in the civil discerning in time the consequences of their decisions, informing citizens on time, and ensuring satisfactory accountability in order to mitigate the suspicion of corruption. In cases of obvious corruption, Cultivating a culture of integrity in the civil service in times of crisis 40