Untold Facts

Corruption, democracy and Bangladesh

Bangladesh has had a troubled political history since gaining independence in 1971 and is also beleaguered by poverty and natural environmental disasters. In particular, corruption is blighting its prospects for economic growth, undermining the rule of law and damaging the legitimacy of the political process.

Corruption the word itself is very familiar to us. Especially during the care taker government, it has got a special meaning. Of course we still remember the unfortunate fame we have got as a nation last few years being first in corruption. But the good news is that our country is one of those countries which have been able to radically improve her corruption situation. This year she improved her ranking to 139 out of 180 countries, which is definitely a good achievement.

However, is this enough? Can we say there is very little corruption in our country? It is sad but true that we will see corruption at every level in our national, political and private life. And the most shocking thing is, corruption is becoming acceptable to most of the people. People are taking it like a normal matter. The attitude they have got towards corruption is very unfortunate for our nation both economically and morally.

In broad terms, corruption is the misuse of public office for private gain. It encompasses abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling, and fraud. Corruption arises in both political and bureaucratic offices and can be petty or grand, organized or unorganized.

Recently I was talking to some of my friends, who are waiting for their upcoming interview for 28th BCS. All of them are graduates from Dhaka University. Surprisingly they were not talking about the possible question they might face in the interview board. The topic they were talking about was how they can get a link among the PSC members and how much they are willing to pay for the job. Later on I found out that this is very common thing here. It’s shocking but true. I was staggered to think these are the people, who are going to run the country by becoming judges, police officers, teachers and all. Is this corruption? Don’t know about other country but in Bangladesh I think it is not. Or at least the people of our country don’t think so. Otherwise, they will not willingly be part of it. Or the system, that has made the people to be part of it.

I find this very hard to believe that how the people making wrong things right. No one is questioning about this. They are taking the entire wrong act as it is. I understand the system has made us like this but why are we taking part in it. It always takes ‘two to make a tangle’. So off course if we don’t support this system which is based on wrongful act then this so called corrupted system will never work out. But who will make this universal truth realize to our people.

Corruption has become a part of culture and society, not just government, and measuring the extent to which ordinary citizens are willing to justify corrupt acts is a complementary effort to measuring perceptions of government corruption. It has been documented that corruption is negatively related to economic development and to the existence of democratic institutions.

Now the question is whether both systemic and cultural modes of corruption are involved in such relationships. It is also feasible that corruption can play an important role in political competition and definitely it has a very negative effect on our national development.

There are significant cross-national and cross-regional variations in corruption permissiveness, and attitudes toward corruption are indeed strongly and negatively related to democratic attitudes. Corruption permissiveness’ is, in particular, strongly and negatively correlated with support for democracy and with interpersonal trust, both of them being important components of a democratic political culture.

Many observers regard corruption as a growing threat to our democracy, while others take a more optimistic view, seeing the increase of corruption revelations as a sign that there is a crackdown on corrupt politicians and entrepreneurs.

It is commonly observed that after adopting competitive elections and market liberalisation (”democratisation”) our country has experienced a rise in corruption. On a more complete conception of democracy, however, such correlations should not be surprising.

Incomplete democratisation often puts into place incentives for corruption, while lacking those elements of democracy might enable those harmed by corruption to fight back.

If corruption involves harms caused by exclusion, a key means for fighting corruption should involve empowering those harmed to protect themselves by democratic means: with information, arguments, organisation, and votes.

However the question might arise, what comes First: Democracy or corruption? Although the definitions of democracy vary in scope they generally include three basic concepts: competition, equality and rule of law. Corruption undermines each of these concepts. Unfair advantage through corruption undermines competition. Corruption is used to make some people more equal than others. Unchecked corruption in society undermines the rule of law.

Why don’t we understand that corruption poses a serious development challenge? In the political realm, it can seriously undermine democracy and good governance. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces accountability and representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary suspends the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the unequal provision of services. More generally, corruption weakens government institutions by disregarding official procedures, siphoning off the resources needed for development, and selecting or promoting officials without regard to performance. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance. And this we can feel every moment.

Corruption also undermines economic development. In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of bribes themselves, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection.

Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting red tape, an emerging consensus holds that the availability of bribes induces officials to contrive new rules and delays. Corruption can also shield companies with connections from fair competition, thus allowing inefficient firms to survive. But none of us are taking any responsibility about this corruption. On top of that we are indirectly helping corruption by taking part in it.

Corruption also generates economic distortions in the public sector by pulling public investment away from education and into projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations; reduces the quality of government services; and increases budgetary pressures on government.

But we the people of Bangladesh do not understand the bad effect of corruption. We are not taking any responsibility towards it. Instead what we are doing is accepting it and helping towards it by taking part in it. One thing we can do very well is to pass the responsibility on others. It is very common to say that the system is corrupted, the government is corrupted and the officials are corrupted. Bur we will never agree that we are the one who are helping this system, government or the officials to be corrupted by accepting their wrongful act. As long as we will not take the responsibility on us then corruption will never end from our society, from our country. As soon as we all will start questioning about the system and stop acting according to the system, the system will break down. And corruption will run from our life. It is high time for us to identify the right and the wrong and say a ‘BIG NO’ to all sorts of corruption.

Author: Barrister Arafat Hosen Khan
Source: The New Nation