Mobile Phones as a Citizen-Controlled Anti-corruption Tool in East Africa - A Literature Review

Despite agreement amongst donors, business and political leaders concerning the negative effects of corruption, levels have not fallen in East Africa. The continued high levels of corruption, reassert the need for a better understanding if mobile phones, if prolific enough, can be an effective tool against corruption. Through a literature review of ten years M4D and ICT4D research on mobiles as a citizens-controlled tool for (a) accessing government information either directly or through citizens’ crowd-sourcing of information and (b) mobilization to demand greater government transparency, as well as, (c) instantaneous reporting of corruption in East Africa; this study attempts to gauge the status of this research field. The review included the ten highest ranking open access ICT4D journals, and six journals from parent disciplines; information system and development studies, as well as conference proceedings from the M4D conferences, and the SIG Globdev Workshops. The review concludes that earlier optimism around mobiles’ potential to support citizens’ counter-corruption actions, has not resulted in a significant body of research. Nor does the literature provide any substantive clues as to why this urgent topic has not been explored more fully.