Mexican Government Holds ‘Most Useless Paperwork’ Contest For Its Citizens

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is offering cash prizes totaling almost $50,000 USD to citizens who name the most useless bureaucratic government paperwork or trámite. 20,000 Mexicans entered the contest via internet, telephone and even snail mail–a huge gamble considering the Mexican postal system is the stuff of inefficient legend–until voting closed in October. Winners will be announced this month, a timing most likely chosen to symbolize new hope after a 2008 La Prensa called “Bitter!”

Calderon’s motivation for the contest, as with most of his actions this year, is cleaning up corruption. The Los Angeles Times explains:

A study last year by the nonprofit group Transparency Mexico found that Mexico’s 105 million residents annually pay bribes totaling more than $2 billion, often for basic services such as getting a water line installed or garbage collected.

“This is the same amount of money we are spending on the whole federal judiciary system,” said Eduardo Bohorquez, director of Transparency Mexico.

Citizen skepticism remains high that Calderon can clean Mexico’s government up anytime soon, but the extra cash might come in handy for some future bribes.

No stamp of approval for Mexico bureaucrats [LA Times]