Corruption Eradicationneed of the day

Outline:
 What is Corruption?  Examples of corruption in Pakistan  Corruption in Pakistan o Causes of corruption in Pakistan     Diffusion in Govt. officials and power holders Abuse of public office Role of enforcement agencies People themselves offer bribes etc.

o Effects of corruption on Pakistan  Statistical overview of corruption

 Suggestions for corruption eradication

What Constitutes Corruption?

The word "corruption" comes from the Latin verb "corruptus" (to break); it literally means broken object. Conceptually, corruption is a form of behavior, which departs from ethics, morality, tradition, law and civic virtue. The most comprehensive definition of corruption can be found at the web site of the Global Infrastructure Anti Corruption Center (GIACC) http://www.giaccentre.org. It says In its wider sense, corruption includes one or more of bribery, extortion, fraud, deception, collusion, cartels, abuse of power, embezzlement, trading in influence and money laundering.

The underlying motive of corruption is to provide some one unfair advantage at the expense of either another individual entity (person or corporate) or a collective entity (country, province, city, community or company). In all cases, it is illegal, dishonest, and/or unethical. A bribe may be a cash payment or a gift item of considerable value.

Examples of Corruption in Pakistan

A government official or government Minister or his/her business partner receiving money in exchange for awarding a contract, job, promotion or approving invoices for payment (an example that involves Bribery and Abuse of Power and may involve Collusion). A policeman receiving money to drop charges against someone or receiving bribe from someone to arrest another person (an example that involves Bribery and Abuse of Power and may involve Collusion and Extortion). A political party leader of a party in power ordering police to arrest a political opponent until that opponent supports that political leader (an example that involves Abuse of Power, and Collusion and Extortion). A medical doctor using supplies received for use in a public hospital uses them in his private practice (an example that involves Abuse of Power, Fraud, and Embezzlement). A military General receiving commission to be deposited in an overseas bank account to facilitate procurement of military equipment (an example that involves Bribery, Abuse of Power, Fraud, Deception, Collusion and Extortion). A contractor who uses sub-standard material in the construction of a large public project such a university building, a road by-pass, or a village road. An inspecting engineer who receives bribe to ignore the use defective material and/or workmanship and approves the project for payment. A treasury official who receives money to pass contractor invoices knowing that inspection certificates lacks all required approvals (an example that involves Bribery, Abuse of Power, Fraud, Deception, Collusion and Extortion). A senior manager in a public or private organization giving a job to a friend or relative bypassing a proper selection process (an example that involves Abuse of Power and Trading-in-influence). The elected and appointed officials conspiring to sell government prime land to friends, relatives or business partners at much lower price with considerable loss to government Treasury (an example that involves Abuse of Power, Fraud, Deception, and Collusion).

A teacher who rarely goes to school to teach but collects his/her salary regularly. A bad village leader (wadero)illegally occupies a school and uses it as guest house (an example that involves Bribery, Abuse of Power, Fraud, Deception, and Collusion). An ordinary citizen and Electric Company Inspection Employee who pays and receives bribe respectively to allow stealing of electricity illegally (an example that involves Bribery, Abuse of Power, Fraud, Deception, and Collusion). A Bank Manager, Bank Employee, relative, or associate who convolute to move a large amount Bribery cash into a foreign account illegally (an example that involves Money Laundering, Deception, fraud, and collusion and may involve Bribery). Owners and Representatives of a commodity or manufactured products or traders (for example, sugar or shaving blades) conspire to keep prices high by agreeing to charge a minimum consumer price ((an example that involves Cartels, Collusion, and Abuse of Power and may involve, Fraud, and Deception).

Causes of Corruption in Pakistan

Pakistan is facing an extraordinary crisis today in almost every aspect of life. Inefficient state decisions, increasing lawlessness, criminalization of polity, inefficient justice system, crime and political power, serious erosion of legitimacy of authority and extremely tardy is order of the day. It is believed that the root cause behind all this situation is only and only corruption which has been diluted in the blood of majority of the government officials and other power shareholders and is difficult to expose because on the one hand the legislation is unclear and open to interpretation and sides with the corruptors and on the other hand there is no respect for law even if clearly available. The abuse of public office for private gains has emerged as a fashion, both among government officials and policymakers. Another reason of wide spread corruption is that the majority of our enforcement agencies are not really committed to fighting corruption. From this viewpoint, it may be said that rampant corruption is attributable to the great leniency that our laws and law enforcers show toward corruptors. Yet another reason is that some people themselves offer bribe and those who offer bribes are just as responsible as those who demand bribe for corruption to spread. It is an inevitable fact that the ultimate source of corrupt behavior is the availability of bribe. Corruption is more likely to occur in policy makers and other high-ups where government intervention or restrictions can lead to abnormally high profits like oil extraction and IPPs etc. which cost much lower than their market prices and abnormally high profits are available in those sectors. Another reason is that the principles of good governance are nowhere available at

government level. Corruption is most prevalent in the country due to institutional inefficiencies, such as political instability, bureaucratic red-tapism, and weak legislative and judicial systems. Most of the practices of administrations are connected with corruption, collusion and nepotism, which also lack transparency. Uncontrolled discretionary powers vested in the public servants are another major cause of corruption. The local public servants are unaccountable to people, and are often the masters, rather than their servants.

Effects of Corruption
Corruption is reducing economic growth of the country by lowering incentives to invest. It is also diminishing the growth by lowering the quality of public infrastructure and services, decreasing tax collection, alluring talented people tending to be involved in non-productive activities, and distorting the government expenditures. Corrupt politicians try to spend more funds on those projects which may produce large commissions or kickbacks. Public servants may be interested to take share in private entities which are subjected to some Government permissions/licenses. Tax collectors may enjoy their discretionary powers to distribute the tax money instead of paying to Government exchequer. In fact corruption effects on economic growth, social norms, and political structure of the country equally and very negatively so eradication of corruption is inevitable.  National Corruption Perception Survey 2010 has revealed that police remains the most corrupted, Power was seen as 2nd most corrupt and Land administration has moved up from being 4th corrupt since the last two surveys to being third. Power where was a rise of 22.22% in its rating as the most corrupt. The ongoing power shortages could provide a justification of this perception. The average expenditure on bribery/household is Rs 10,537. Based on a population of 169.58 million and 8 members/house, the cost of petty bribery works out to Rs 223 billion, i.e. an increase of 11.37 % from 2009 which was Rs. 196 Billion. The average corruption per household has increased from Rs 9,428 in 2009 to Rs 10,537 and judiciary and land administration lead this list. Foreign debt on Pakistan increased from US $ 40 Billion in 1999 to US $ 46 billion in 2008, whereas in last two years it has increased to US $ 53.5 billion A World Bank report containing an assessment of the Pakistans Infrastructure Capacity (PICA) dated February 2008 states that 15% of Pakistans Development budget for 200708 was lost in the procurement process alone due to corruption. The CPI 2010 reveals that corruption in Pakistan is increasing, while in Bangladesh it is decreasing. Bangladesh was perceived to be the most corrupt country in 2001, 2002 and

 

  

2003 and its ranking in 2010 is 39 most corrupt country. Reduced corruption has paid dividends to Bangladesh whose annual GDP growth last year was over 5%, while Pakistans GDP growth last year was near 2.4%.  Corruption by political leaders using public office for private gain in banking sector alone cost 10 to 15%. The same newspaper reports that the overall cost of corruption by political leaders in Pakistan is between 20% and 25% of the GDP. This is equitant to an annual average GDP growth rate over 4 years According to a 2010 survey, 96 percent of the people said that they had encountered corruption in Judiciary. 44 percent of them reported that they paid a bribe to a court official. In Pakistan, The judiciary is not viewed as independent of the Executive side of the government but rather part of it.

Suggestions for Corruption Eradication

Corruption being an extraordinary crime; needs extraordinary measures to be taken to determine the future of the agenda for corruption eradication. The truth is that getting rid of corruption shall help the country overcome most of the problems and probably everybody would be better off if corruption were to be eliminated. In addition to dispensing with the discretionary powers and introducing a foolproof alternate system there must be widespread and continuous campaigns to awaken the publics collective awareness that corruption is a crime against humanity. Also, the public must exact social sanctions against corruptors. At Government level firstly, major corruption cases must be handled properly and seriously, as it is general perception that the corruption cases still are not dealt with successfully. As a result, there is a crisis of confidence regarding law enforcing agencies. Secondly, government officials involved in corruption cases must be discharged from their positions without accepting any sort of influence. Thirdly, whenever any minister or a member of the parliament or any other politician is alleged to be involved in a corruption case, he must be temporarily discharged from his position. If later the courts find him guilty, he must be permanently removed immediately without taking care of the level of his political support. If all of these extraordinary measures can be taken together, the future of corruption eradication efforts will be much better than in the past. In addition to fighting against corrupt mind-sets, the root causes of corruption also need to be eliminated. Now is the right time to start. Otherwise, this country will collapse because of corruptors and corrupt practices.