According to the universal (natural) order instituted by the divine providences, the material goods are provided for the satisfaction of all human needs. We find in the Decretum Gratiani as well as in many other religious teachings saying: “The bread which we withheld belongs to the hungry; the clothing we shut away, belong to the naked; and the money we bury in the “ground” is the redemption and freedom of the penniless”. If it is within our power to prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance; we ought, morally to do it.
Public corruption is a worldwide phenomenon, especially in developing countries those have been making transitions from years of foreign occupations. Corruption is defined by the World Bank and Transparency International as “the misuse of public office for private gain”. It is also considered as a moral and legal problem since it involves undocumented and illegitimate appropriation of public wealth, improper and unlawful behaviors of public service officials; both politicians and civil servants whose positions create opportunities for the diversion of state funds and assets from Government to themselves and their accomplices. Pervasive corruptions reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of the government, private investments and finally alienate the citizens from their Government. The contributing variables to these corruptions are lack of “Commitments and the Will” of the governments, greed, policies, failing institutions, income disparities and lack of accountability and transparency etc.
In Bangladesh, corruption has become an accepted behavior as if the government has legalized the payments of bribes! These practices have created national, moral and economic catastrophes to this poor nation. Unfortunately, for many of us the idea is that “its solely the Governments responsibility to fight and prevent corruptions” but I strongly believe that this conclusion is not absolute. Governments cant draw a line between public conducts/behaviors those are required in public life and conducts those are good although not required. Ultimately all parts of our society must share responsibility for containing corruption, because all of us are willing or unwilling participants in it, one way or other. Each corrupt transaction requires a buyer and a seller. However, the
Government is ultimately responsible for dealing with civil servants those engage in extortion and bribery but it is the business and individuals those offer bribes to civil servants to secure certain advantages.
It is axiomatic that Bangladesh has become a fertile ground of “corruptions” since its independence. All public institutions starting from Ministers Secretariats to their Divisions and branches nation wide, Law enforcement agencies, tax and customs administration, banking systems, public corporations, utility services like Gas, electricity, telephone and water supply are plagued by default and bribery. In a colloquial sense, all these corruptions are the products of poor governance those infuse the public funds and other resources to the corrupted public officials, to the greedy politicians and the businessmen. Majority of nations population become victims of corruptions and the poor suffers its astringent burdens at the worst.
Combating corruptions through enforcement law is indeed complicated. “Points of corruptions” are those where public officials discretions interact with the private sectors and those there are the opportunities for exercising their authority and judgments in the appropriation, approval and use of public funds. Its complicities are secretive conducts and unlike violent crimes (e.g. robbery, murders or rape) the crime of corruptions has visibly no direct victim in general who could complain to the law enforcing authority with evidences. Thus, investigative efforts in corruption complains become difficult and more often these efforts end up with flawed outcomes. Evidences of bribery, extortion, grafts etc., against elected officials, politicians and senior leaders in Bangladesh have become almost impossible in coming up with any successful prosecutions.
Having said all these, corruptions still could be arrested and reduced significantly with our government and political leaders “Strong Will”, strategic initiatives and plans of actions. Combating, controlling and prevention of corruptions could need both reactive and preventive initiatives. These may include (1) Moves to strengthen coordinated enforcement of law, investigative powers and imposing severe penalties (2) Mandating higher level responsibility, accountability and transparency of Government activities (3) Aggressive public campaign against corruptions (4) Securing effective and appropriate legislative actions, (5) Eliminating the opportunity of committing corruptions in our systems, tougher election regulations (e.g. Asset declaration) and (6) educating and fostering the citizens (campaigning) against corruptions etc. would help ameliorating endemic corruption practices in Bangladesh.
Preventing corruption before being committed could be another effective strategy of a well developed systems by assessing potential or actual conflicts of interests of the public officials, bureaucratic, elected officials and others involved in the “Points of interest”. Laws delegating the sensitivity on conflicts of interest, declaration of assets, sources of income of the elected officials, their immediate family members (spouse, children, brother, sisters, in-laws etc.) could be introduced before taking office or accepting any public service position. Government must draft effective law preventing and fighting money laundering schemes too. A monitoring cell may be established to look through overall performance of Governments anticorruption measures and action plans.
The public officials must accept the importance of legal and moral obligations during their services and perform those in non-partition and without regard for personal interest, and shall act without “fear and favor”, malice or ill will. The elected officials also have Constitutional duties, obligations and responsibilities to its citizens and must work in accordance the Parliamentary “Code of Conduct” and public trust. Government could also curb the opportunities of corruption by reducing bureaucratic red tapes and authority, introducing information technology traps to locate and apprehend violators as well as giving out options those could provide multiple alternatives to citizens during their interactions with public officials. It is also essential that citizens have reasonable access to the “points of contact” for reporting corruption.
And finally, anti-corruption laws and Anti-Corruption Commission need more authority like power to search, seizures, arrest, detentions, instant check of bank accounts & assets, more freedom in investigating corruptions and then prosecuting the corrupted individuals. This Commission should be made to work with credibility and success in fighting corruptions. It also needs clearly defined and unambiguous tools in hand to succeed instead of being a “failed agency”. Commission must investigate all complains with equal and unbiased importance too. Educating public with anti-corruption messages in the news media and displaying bill boards etc., nationwide could yet be another important tool during this process. We need to recognize that once public sectors are not engaged in corruptions, there can not be any alarming corruption. This is another strong argument for privatization of public enterprises!
writes from USA, email: mgani69@gmail.com |
