They say the fish rots from the head… Corrupt dictator, corrupt country..
Mush supporters rjoice, we are up there with Senegal!
Rising corruption
By Dr Mahnaz Fatima
Transparency International’s Global Corruption survey report 2007 places Pakistan amongst the top 10 corrupt countries that are most affected by bribery. Pakistan is lumped with, amongst others, Albania, Cambodia, Nigeria, and Senegal. The rate of bribe giving in Pakistan doubled in 2007 as compared to that in 2006.
As Pakistan’s growth rate of GDP increased and growth rate of prices increased many times more, the people who paid bribe to obtain services increased by 100 pr cent from 15 per cent in 2006 to over 30 per cent in 2007. Thirty per cent of what is unclear. However, there is hope if 30 per cent of those who availed services paid bribes and if 70 per cent of those who availed services did not pay bribes according to this reading of the report.
While it is disconcerting that the percentage that paid bribes increased, is there still a large chunk that avails services without paying bribes? Who should the society be following the 30 per cent that bribe or the 70 per cent that do not? If 70 per cent can get by without paying bribes, why can’t this 30 per cent segment that is equally responsible for perpetuating corruption however much they may condemn only the bribe-seekers for corruption. There would be no bribes if no one gave bribes. That some resort to short-cut underhand tactics shows the proclivities at the giving end, the deteriorating public service delivery notwithstanding.
And, this increasing percentage of those who pay bribes are the ones who lead opinions towards bribery. In some other countries bribes are called “facilitation payments” and “success money.” This segment of the population goes about projecting bribes as a way of seeking quick decisions and, therefore, efficiency. According to one argument, bribes grease the wheels of the economy. While greasing palms may provide quick short-term solutions for those with surplus and perhaps ill-gotten cash, the practice infests the systems with termites as also established empirically by scholars.
According to Gunnar Myrdal, corruption adversely affects economic development, poverty, income distribution, and human development all of which together then cause more corruption. Corruption is viewed as a tax on private investment and retards economic growth (Mauro, 1995). It was further found that corruption lead to investment losses in Pakistan during 1980 to 1985. Investment-to-GDP could have been seven percentage points higher in Pakistan then only if it had reduced its level of corruption to that of Singapore (in Paul Streeten, 2002). It was further estimated that the income growth of the poor falls by 7.8 percentages points per annum if corruption grows by 0.78 percentage points (in Paul Streeten, 2002).
A case for corruption is not made empirically. What is true for a few short-cut seeking individuals may not be true for the economy as a whole. It is flawed economic and scientific reasoning on the basis of which some conclude for the whole economy and generalise personal or group experiences that cannot be generalised.
Police and taxation are amongst the most corrupt according to Transparency International’s findings. The corruption of these two is interlinked. When the affluent in the agricultural sector resist taxation through assemblies, the rest try to evade except the salaried class who have to pay as they do not have a way out. The entire cultural milieu in the country militates against tax payment. Then they join the inadequately paid tax collectors who have their incomes augmented by entering into alliances with the tax payers who do not want to pay in full. It cannot be said that only the tax collection system is corrupt. For, those who are liable to pay are no less so. The two sides of the tax collection system work in sync. For, no collector can arm twist if the tax payers have kept their records straight and clean and are in a position to talk back to the tax collector on the take. Tax collectors exploit not their own position but the weak and vulnerable position of the tax payers who end up playing into their hands for not having done their homework honestly in an above board manner with the help of professional tax consultants if they cannot do it themselves.
The fact of the matter is that both sides of the divide work to find a way into corruption instead of finding a way out of corruption. When taxes are not paid, public service delivery remains weak especially the police that is one of the most under-paid, resource poor, and therefore impelled towards corrupt practices as even their lower order needs cannot be met by a resource poor state kept poor by the affluent population segments that can but do not pay their full share of taxes. The segments that matter end up reinforcing and justifying corruption instead of standing up to it when properly channelised energies can rid the society of this scourge. It is a case of misplaced priorities, misdirected energies, and more.
Corruption may take various forms that may include economic, political, social, administrative, moral, and religious.
In the so-called “practising” Islamic republics, emphasis is more on form than on substance, more on display than on essence, and more on speech than on true practice. Yet, they call themselves “practising” by outward emphases only even if the insides remain polluted and confused. Some of these countries are oil rich. While oil may be found in their sub-soil and with a handful of wealthy, the country cannot be following the Islamic principles of justice and equity if oil and other goodies do not “reach the plates” of the commoners. These countries, however, promote and export an outward view of Islamic “practice” by relishing their speech with Islamic thought, by a practice restricted primarily to outward worship and facial appearance that others can see, and by strictly regulating the dress and roles of women in their societies. If some of the above claims are not coupled with honest, hardworking, dedicated, and clean governments with the sole objective and single-minded pursuit to serve all the people without fear or prejudice, we have cases of Muslim governments that are not necessarily fully Islamic in character.
This religiosity has caught on in our country as well and has added yet another dimension to corruption. First, using the term Muslim and Islamic synonymously and interchangeably is dishonest and dishonesty is unIslamic. Second, behind the veneer of outwardly religious practice, one tends to legitimise all other deviant acts strictly prohibited in religion. This is moral and religious corruption that gives rise to all forms of corruption whether it is economic, political, social, or administrative. Since religion is worn on the sleeve these days without reviving its thought and true practice in all spheres, we end up justifying all deviant practices as long as we have an outer Muslim-specific dress and facial appearance and we make a show of obedience to the Creator. It is this duplicity from which all forms of corruption emanate.
