Mending the loopholes of corruption
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Emdadul Haque
The economic health of Malaysia and South Korea was not much better than newborn Bangladesh in 1972. But after 25 years, those countries gathered formidable economic strength. The reasons were very simple-leaders of the two were honest and they proceeded with specific plans. Especially, Malaysia made tremendous progress under the leadership of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
We are unfortunate that Bangladesh is still struggling to survive as a least developed country. The new government of Sheikh Hasina has decided to bring dramatic change in the country. But her government is yet to launch any 'era of change' in this connection.
If the new government really wants to change the lot of the country as well as the frustrated countrymen they have to launch crusade against corruption, which is the prime cause of our lagging behind.
Ministers, government officials and others do not hesitate to indulge in corruption as no punitive actions have been taken against corrupt personnel so far except during the regime of immediate past caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed.
This is one of the reasons why Bangladesh topped the list of world's corrupt countries for five consecutive years from 2001 to 2005, while it became third in 2006 and seventh in 2007.
In 2005, Bangladesh was the second most corrupt country in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International (TI).
The TI report 2005 came up with the observation that Bangladesh had been a consistently poor performer in the CPI, reflecting the fact that rampant corruption undermined the effort to achieve sustainable development. "Particular concerns include political corruption and corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary," said the report.
The definition of corruption in case of CPI is "abuse of the public office for private gain", TIB Chief Prof. Mozaffar was quoted as saying, adding that criminalisation of politics aggravated corruption in Bangladesh.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) conducted a survey in 2007 on corruption in the country. A total of 5,000 households were interviewed - 3,000 (60 per cent) from rural areas and 2,000 (40 per cent) from cities.
The survey revealed that households in the highest proportion (72.2 per cent) interacted with or received services from education sector, followed by electricity (60.0 per cent), health (44.9 per cent) and NGOs (39.6 per cent). Around 11 per cent households had interactions with law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. Around one-fourth of households interacted with different institutions under land administration.
The survey considered corruption in six common forms-bribery, negligence of duties, nepotism, embezzlement, deception and extortion. The following figures present an overview of different forms of corruption experienced by the surveyed households. Bribery and negligence of duties were the two most frequent forms of corruption experienced by the surveyed households, the two together claiming 76.9 per cent of the total. Bribery was reportedly the single most frequent form of corruption with 38.6 per cent of the surveyed households having such experience, followed by negligence of duties experienced by 38.3 per cent, embezzlement by nearly 10 per cent, nepotism by 8.0 per cent and deception and extortion by 3.5 and 1.7 per cent respectively.
Manifestations of different forms of corruption vary among sectors. Bribery as a foremost form of corruption prevails almost in all sectors in different proportions. The transaction of speed money was found most prevalent in land administration (89.1 per cent) followed by judiciary (78.4 per cent), law enforcement (56. 1 per cent) and tax (53.0 per cent).
72.2 per cent households interacted with educational institutions for the education of their family members.
Of those students, who experienced irregularities, overall 65.3 per cent students had to pay donation or unauthorized payments for admission and they paid on an average Tk 574. In term of residence, students in urban areas made unauthorized payments almost three times higher than those of rural areas (Tk 1149 compared to Tk 389).
According to the survey findings, 52.7 per cent households experienced corruption while receiving services from different electricity departments.
The survey reveals the gravity of grafts in the country. However, that does not tell the whole story. That is the tip of the iceberg.
The immediate past caretaker government took some commendable steps. Establishment of Truth Commission was a right and pragmatic decision. Hundreds of government officials confessed to their crime of corruption to the commission. Though no high officials appeared before the commission, it nevertheless, could be the beginning of a new era.
If the Hasina-led government sincerely wants change, it should reopen the Truth Commission for at least two years so that corrupt officials can surrender there. This would not require any clumsy and time-consuming process of law. One thing has to be ensured-there should be a process to verify the confession of corrupt people.
There is no ambiguity about the fact that a strong, independent and neutral Anti-Corruption Commission is a crying need for Bangladesh. The country grabbed the top slot among corrupt countries because the commission was made the weakest one during the period 2001-2005 led by Khaleda Zia as it had to take permission from the government high-ups for beginning the trial of a corrupt person. Unfortunately, it got no permission to bring a bigwig behind bars.
The caretaker government jailed two former prime ministers Hasina and Khaleda and a lot of influential former ministers. The problem was that the commission took most of its decisions intentionally to harass the politicians as the army-led Fakhruddin government had some hidden agendas. The speedy trial tribunals gave the same punishment for severe and ordinary crimes.
Hasina-led government must make the Anti-Corruption Commission absolutely strong and independent so that the commission can file case against any minister or even the prime minister anytime for indulging in corrupt practices.
Fakhruddin government ordered the government officials to submit wealth statements. After the issuance of the circular, most of them submitted that and corrupt officials became panicky fearing trials. But there was no progress in this connection. Dusts are gathering on the files. So, how can one expect a graft-free society, if the government does not proceed to eradicate corruption from the country?
That was an unelected government. So, the responsibility goes to Hasina's government. She can begin the task with some strict rules, which will make the Anti-Corruption Commission a genuine organisation for fighting graft.
The government has to carry out a complete survey with the involvement of intelligence agencies to determine the real owners of houses, apartments, vehicles and land in the city areas. There is a common practice among the government officials that they purchase property in their wives' name. They want to give such a perception that their fathers-in-law are moneyed men and they gave the properties as gift. It is really interesting that the 'great-hearted' fathers-in-law who live in bamboo-made houses present a well-decorated house or apartment to their daughters. So, it is also necessary to do a survey on the property of government officials' fathers-in-law.
However, a senior journalist said if a survey is conducted in metropolitan cities of the country, it would be found that corrupt government officials or businessmen own most of the buildings constructed in those places. Similarly, the data would confirm that the same group of people possesses more than 60 per cent luxurious or costly cars.
There is a bad news for the country. A provision of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) law might be reinstated to curtail its power, so that the watchdog body may not issue any arrest warrant against a government official without informing his higher authority.
The country's top bureaucrats, mainly the secretaries of different ministries, recently discussed the issue and adopted a proposal to be put forward to the Cabinet for amending the rules of the ACC.
Cabinet Secretary Abdul Aziz presided over the meeting. The immediate-past caretaker government had inserted the provision in the ACC rules, giving it mandate to conduct investigation and issue arrest warrant against any civil servant without informing his/her highest authority of such investigation.
"Some of the secretaries have discussed the issue and recommended amendment of the existing law to curtail such power of the ACC. Because, they feel that, in many cases, government officials take decision in the interest of their own organisations. It might not be his individual decision," Aziz told reporters while briefing about the meeting.
It is not irrational to serve the purpose of one's own organisation. But that must be logical and free from corruption. If any corrupt practice is found, is it unlawful to send the culprit behind bars?
Such a safeguard provision was there in the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption Rule - 1977, so that it could not issue arrest warrant against government officials without permission of his/her highest authority. But the provision was dropped while the ACC law was enacted during the caretaker government.
If the law is tailored to save the bureaucrats then the ACC will become a toothless tiger. Does the government want this?
The countrymen will not be benefited from the development activities taken up by the government, if the administrative loopholes that allow corruption to continue are not permanently mended. The sooner such loopholes are plugged, the better.
(The writer can be reached at emdadulhaque28@yahoo.com)
The economic health of Malaysia and South Korea was not much better than newborn Bangladesh in 1972. But after 25 years, those countries gathered formidable economic strength. The reasons were very simple-leaders of the two were honest and they proceeded with specific plans. Especially, Malaysia made tremendous progress under the leadership of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
We are unfortunate that Bangladesh is still struggling to survive as a least developed country. The new government of Sheikh Hasina has decided to bring dramatic change in the country. But her government is yet to launch any 'era of change' in this connection.
If the new government really wants to change the lot of the country as well as the frustrated countrymen they have to launch crusade against corruption, which is the prime cause of our lagging behind.
Ministers, government officials and others do not hesitate to indulge in corruption as no punitive actions have been taken against corrupt personnel so far except during the regime of immediate past caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed.
This is one of the reasons why Bangladesh topped the list of world's corrupt countries for five consecutive years from 2001 to 2005, while it became third in 2006 and seventh in 2007.
In 2005, Bangladesh was the second most corrupt country in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International (TI).
The TI report 2005 came up with the observation that Bangladesh had been a consistently poor performer in the CPI, reflecting the fact that rampant corruption undermined the effort to achieve sustainable development. "Particular concerns include political corruption and corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary," said the report.
The definition of corruption in case of CPI is "abuse of the public office for private gain", TIB Chief Prof. Mozaffar was quoted as saying, adding that criminalisation of politics aggravated corruption in Bangladesh.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) conducted a survey in 2007 on corruption in the country. A total of 5,000 households were interviewed - 3,000 (60 per cent) from rural areas and 2,000 (40 per cent) from cities.
The survey revealed that households in the highest proportion (72.2 per cent) interacted with or received services from education sector, followed by electricity (60.0 per cent), health (44.9 per cent) and NGOs (39.6 per cent). Around 11 per cent households had interactions with law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. Around one-fourth of households interacted with different institutions under land administration.
The survey considered corruption in six common forms-bribery, negligence of duties, nepotism, embezzlement, deception and extortion. The following figures present an overview of different forms of corruption experienced by the surveyed households. Bribery and negligence of duties were the two most frequent forms of corruption experienced by the surveyed households, the two together claiming 76.9 per cent of the total. Bribery was reportedly the single most frequent form of corruption with 38.6 per cent of the surveyed households having such experience, followed by negligence of duties experienced by 38.3 per cent, embezzlement by nearly 10 per cent, nepotism by 8.0 per cent and deception and extortion by 3.5 and 1.7 per cent respectively.
Manifestations of different forms of corruption vary among sectors. Bribery as a foremost form of corruption prevails almost in all sectors in different proportions. The transaction of speed money was found most prevalent in land administration (89.1 per cent) followed by judiciary (78.4 per cent), law enforcement (56. 1 per cent) and tax (53.0 per cent).
72.2 per cent households interacted with educational institutions for the education of their family members.
Of those students, who experienced irregularities, overall 65.3 per cent students had to pay donation or unauthorized payments for admission and they paid on an average Tk 574. In term of residence, students in urban areas made unauthorized payments almost three times higher than those of rural areas (Tk 1149 compared to Tk 389).
According to the survey findings, 52.7 per cent households experienced corruption while receiving services from different electricity departments.
The survey reveals the gravity of grafts in the country. However, that does not tell the whole story. That is the tip of the iceberg.
The immediate past caretaker government took some commendable steps. Establishment of Truth Commission was a right and pragmatic decision. Hundreds of government officials confessed to their crime of corruption to the commission. Though no high officials appeared before the commission, it nevertheless, could be the beginning of a new era.
If the Hasina-led government sincerely wants change, it should reopen the Truth Commission for at least two years so that corrupt officials can surrender there. This would not require any clumsy and time-consuming process of law. One thing has to be ensured-there should be a process to verify the confession of corrupt people.
There is no ambiguity about the fact that a strong, independent and neutral Anti-Corruption Commission is a crying need for Bangladesh. The country grabbed the top slot among corrupt countries because the commission was made the weakest one during the period 2001-2005 led by Khaleda Zia as it had to take permission from the government high-ups for beginning the trial of a corrupt person. Unfortunately, it got no permission to bring a bigwig behind bars.
The caretaker government jailed two former prime ministers Hasina and Khaleda and a lot of influential former ministers. The problem was that the commission took most of its decisions intentionally to harass the politicians as the army-led Fakhruddin government had some hidden agendas. The speedy trial tribunals gave the same punishment for severe and ordinary crimes.
Hasina-led government must make the Anti-Corruption Commission absolutely strong and independent so that the commission can file case against any minister or even the prime minister anytime for indulging in corrupt practices.
Fakhruddin government ordered the government officials to submit wealth statements. After the issuance of the circular, most of them submitted that and corrupt officials became panicky fearing trials. But there was no progress in this connection. Dusts are gathering on the files. So, how can one expect a graft-free society, if the government does not proceed to eradicate corruption from the country?
That was an unelected government. So, the responsibility goes to Hasina's government. She can begin the task with some strict rules, which will make the Anti-Corruption Commission a genuine organisation for fighting graft.
The government has to carry out a complete survey with the involvement of intelligence agencies to determine the real owners of houses, apartments, vehicles and land in the city areas. There is a common practice among the government officials that they purchase property in their wives' name. They want to give such a perception that their fathers-in-law are moneyed men and they gave the properties as gift. It is really interesting that the 'great-hearted' fathers-in-law who live in bamboo-made houses present a well-decorated house or apartment to their daughters. So, it is also necessary to do a survey on the property of government officials' fathers-in-law.
However, a senior journalist said if a survey is conducted in metropolitan cities of the country, it would be found that corrupt government officials or businessmen own most of the buildings constructed in those places. Similarly, the data would confirm that the same group of people possesses more than 60 per cent luxurious or costly cars.
There is a bad news for the country. A provision of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) law might be reinstated to curtail its power, so that the watchdog body may not issue any arrest warrant against a government official without informing his higher authority.
The country's top bureaucrats, mainly the secretaries of different ministries, recently discussed the issue and adopted a proposal to be put forward to the Cabinet for amending the rules of the ACC.
Cabinet Secretary Abdul Aziz presided over the meeting. The immediate-past caretaker government had inserted the provision in the ACC rules, giving it mandate to conduct investigation and issue arrest warrant against any civil servant without informing his/her highest authority of such investigation.
"Some of the secretaries have discussed the issue and recommended amendment of the existing law to curtail such power of the ACC. Because, they feel that, in many cases, government officials take decision in the interest of their own organisations. It might not be his individual decision," Aziz told reporters while briefing about the meeting.
It is not irrational to serve the purpose of one's own organisation. But that must be logical and free from corruption. If any corrupt practice is found, is it unlawful to send the culprit behind bars?
Such a safeguard provision was there in the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption Rule - 1977, so that it could not issue arrest warrant against government officials without permission of his/her highest authority. But the provision was dropped while the ACC law was enacted during the caretaker government.
If the law is tailored to save the bureaucrats then the ACC will become a toothless tiger. Does the government want this?
The countrymen will not be benefited from the development activities taken up by the government, if the administrative loopholes that allow corruption to continue are not permanently mended. The sooner such loopholes are plugged, the better.
(The writer can be reached at emdadulhaque28@yahoo.com)