Dhaka still on bottom rung of graft index
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
FE Report
Bangladesh is still in league with countries perceived to be the most corrupt as the nation ranks 12th at the bottom, according to global anti-sleaze group Transparency International.
The 2010 corruption perception index (CPI), of the Berlin-based body, said that the country's scores this year were same as the last year--2.4, ranking 134th position out of 178 nations surveyed. Last year, Bangladesh secured the139 position out of 180 countries.
"The report shows that Bangladesh is still one of nations perceived to be the most corrupt. It couldn't score above 3," executive director of Bangladesh chapter Iftekharuzzaman said while launching the report in the city.
Bangladesh is now in the same league such as Azerbaijan, Honduras, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leon, Togo Ukraine and Zimbabwe, according to the report.
He said out of all nations surveyed, 74 countries scored 3 or less, which means corruption is rampant in those countries.
"For Bangladesh, data were collected from seven global organisations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Economist Intelligence Unit," he said.
The index ranks countries in terms of degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians, Mr Iftekharuzzaman said and added the report was based on rolling data from two years January 2009 to September 2010.
In South Asia, Pakistan (143) and war-torn Afghanistan (176), Nepal (146) and Maldives (143) are ahead of Bangladesh in terms of corruption intensity, while Bhutan (36th), India (87th) and Sri Lanka (91st) fared better than other regional peers.
TI,B executive director said the government has failed so far "to fulfill most of its pledges in its manifesto regarding corruption", which is one of main causes of the poor score on the index.
Member of the TI,B trustee board Hafiz Uddin Khan said the government took initiatives to bring changes to the ACC Act and later stalled the move amid the pressure from the conscious people. "That also affected the index."
The TI,B member also detected some reasons for the poor score, listing initiatives to amend to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, boycott and conflict of interest among lawmakers in the parliament, provision of whitening black money in the budget, public procurement rules change, and partisan political influence in administration and other public services as the dominant reasons.
Former chairman of TI,B trustee board Prof Muzaffer Ahmed said Bangladesh's performance could be much better in the index if the government fulfilled its election promises to fight graft, uphold public service integrity and impartiality from partisan political influence.
He said he doesn't want to be frustrated as the government has taken some measures like formation of human rights commission, citizen charter in service delivery institutions, activating parliamentary standing committee and anti-corruption training in government level.
"We need political commitment against corruption, which is invisible in the country. We need combined efforts as well to improve our ranks," he said.
"Unfortunately, none except the Finance Minister followed the commitment," he said.
The TI,B officials also feared Bangladesh's performance in the coming index might deteriorate further as extortion in the name of service charges is on the rise and latest decision to provide immunity to power sector investors.
"All these matters might played their part," an official said.
According to the report, 74 countries out of the surveyed countries scored below 3.
Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore ranked top of the list scoring 9.3, followed by Finland and Sweden (9.2).
Somalia is the most corrupt country (1.1), followed by Afghanistan, Myanmar (1.4), Iraq (1.5) and Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (1.6).
Bangladesh is still in league with countries perceived to be the most corrupt as the nation ranks 12th at the bottom, according to global anti-sleaze group Transparency International.
The 2010 corruption perception index (CPI), of the Berlin-based body, said that the country's scores this year were same as the last year--2.4, ranking 134th position out of 178 nations surveyed. Last year, Bangladesh secured the139 position out of 180 countries.
"The report shows that Bangladesh is still one of nations perceived to be the most corrupt. It couldn't score above 3," executive director of Bangladesh chapter Iftekharuzzaman said while launching the report in the city.
Bangladesh is now in the same league such as Azerbaijan, Honduras, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leon, Togo Ukraine and Zimbabwe, according to the report.
He said out of all nations surveyed, 74 countries scored 3 or less, which means corruption is rampant in those countries.
"For Bangladesh, data were collected from seven global organisations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Economist Intelligence Unit," he said.
The index ranks countries in terms of degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians, Mr Iftekharuzzaman said and added the report was based on rolling data from two years January 2009 to September 2010.
In South Asia, Pakistan (143) and war-torn Afghanistan (176), Nepal (146) and Maldives (143) are ahead of Bangladesh in terms of corruption intensity, while Bhutan (36th), India (87th) and Sri Lanka (91st) fared better than other regional peers.
TI,B executive director said the government has failed so far "to fulfill most of its pledges in its manifesto regarding corruption", which is one of main causes of the poor score on the index.
Member of the TI,B trustee board Hafiz Uddin Khan said the government took initiatives to bring changes to the ACC Act and later stalled the move amid the pressure from the conscious people. "That also affected the index."
The TI,B member also detected some reasons for the poor score, listing initiatives to amend to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, boycott and conflict of interest among lawmakers in the parliament, provision of whitening black money in the budget, public procurement rules change, and partisan political influence in administration and other public services as the dominant reasons.
Former chairman of TI,B trustee board Prof Muzaffer Ahmed said Bangladesh's performance could be much better in the index if the government fulfilled its election promises to fight graft, uphold public service integrity and impartiality from partisan political influence.
He said he doesn't want to be frustrated as the government has taken some measures like formation of human rights commission, citizen charter in service delivery institutions, activating parliamentary standing committee and anti-corruption training in government level.
"We need political commitment against corruption, which is invisible in the country. We need combined efforts as well to improve our ranks," he said.
"Unfortunately, none except the Finance Minister followed the commitment," he said.
The TI,B officials also feared Bangladesh's performance in the coming index might deteriorate further as extortion in the name of service charges is on the rise and latest decision to provide immunity to power sector investors.
"All these matters might played their part," an official said.
According to the report, 74 countries out of the surveyed countries scored below 3.
Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore ranked top of the list scoring 9.3, followed by Finland and Sweden (9.2).
Somalia is the most corrupt country (1.1), followed by Afghanistan, Myanmar (1.4), Iraq (1.5) and Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (1.6).