full potential because it operates part-time, does not have enough resources to carry out its oversight functions, and lacks legislative assistants to assist members in performing their functions. 211. The government has been implementing wide-ranging reforms of the public service in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public officeholders and the civil service. The reforms include efforts to make the public service more professional, upgrade infrastructure and advance decentralisation. A “one-stop shop” to facilitate the registration of businesses by the private sector has also been established. Although these efforts have had positive results in improving the efficiency of the public sector, the impact of the reforms has unfortunately been weakened by a number of factors, such as the current low level of educational attainment in the country, failure to institute merit-based recruitment in the public sector, and poor motivation as a result of low wages and salaries. 212. Corruption is another bane of Mozambique’s public service. It occurs in the awarding of huge construction contracts and in procurements, and is generally rife among civil servants delivering services to the public. There appears to be a degree of social tolerance of corruption because it is very pervasive. The interwovenness of government, business and politics makes it very difficult to deal with corruption. The government has put an anticorruption strategy in place that involves rationalising and simplifying administrative procedures, as well as reducing the discretionary powers of civil servants; strengthening accountability procedures; fostering participation of CSOs and the private sector in government actions; and decentralising government to bring it closer to the people. 213. Notwithstanding the anticorruption strategy, there is little evidence of corruption declining in Mozambique. This is due to the government’s stranglehold on the economic and political spaces, weak legal and institutional frameworks, and Parliament’s lack of capacity to carry out effective oversight of government activities. In order to fight corruption more effectively, the anticorruption strategy would need to be revamped to include measures, such as vigorous prosecution of cases of grand corruption (to signal to Mozambicans that the government is seriously committed to combating corruption); publication of declared assets of high-ranking government officials; and active verification of these assets. 214. Mozambique has a good record of promoting gender equality, second only to Rwanda on the African continent. The ruling party’s gender policy sets aside a quota of 35 per cent for women to access public positions. This has yielded positive results, as women have been appointed to important political and public service positions at the central, provincial and local levels. Women’s rights, however, lag behind the gains attained so far in the political sphere. Women are still subject to considerable social discrimination and marginalisa- 90 A P R M COU N T RY R EV IEW R EP ORT NO. 11