Photo: Messenger
Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence peddling, graft, and embezzlement. Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprises such as, drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, though it is not restricted to these activities only.
Unlawful political parties, which were born in the military bivouac on September 1, 1978, and on January 1, 1986, by profaned military dictators using government spy agencies illegitimately and spending fatso cashbox from the government exchequer forbidden by law and who were self-proclaimed Presidents of Bangladesh, are also grievous political corruptions.
Political corruption is the use of power by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done under the colour of law, or involves trading in influence.
The media outlets in the country revealed so many corrupt names before the January 7, 2024, national elections from submission of the wealth reports to the Election Commission by the participants of members of parliament.
Worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as kleptocracy, meaning rule by thieves.
"Let corruption not be an obstacle to our path of development; let corruption not ruin all of our achievements. So, it's our responsibility to contain corruption," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said repeatedly. She further said that it is her government’s responsibility to contain corruption to safeguard all development programmes. But that must not be word for word only. People want to see that these commitments are reflected soon through the government actions.
Corruption in Bangladesh includes the private use of public resources, bribery, and improper favouritism. Everyone in the country is disgusted to have seen the very high magnitude of corruption now going on in the country. Internationally, Bangladesh has also plunged into a great image crisis!
I have been working with private business firms (still working) for close to 48 years. We need to handle more than 20 government offices to keep our business functioning smoothly, but from the top to the bottom of those offices - everybody is extremely corrupt. Those people are so unblushing that they force us to give them kickbacks in fat amounts in a very short time.
If we fail to hear them in time, they penalise us by way of an unthinkable amount of money, and they reserve every right to continue or discontinue the business of our companies!
PM Sheikh Hasina should take a vow to root out existing corruption and further the development of anti-corruption initiatives. The country has a robust anti-corruption framework, but laws are inadequately enforced, and accountability in all public sectors remains low.
In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves. Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting bureaucracy, the availability of bribes can also induce officials to contrive new rules and delays. Openly removing costly and lengthy regulations is better than covertly allowing them to be bypassed by using bribes. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it also distorts the field of inquiry and action, shielding firms with connections from competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms.
Corruption may have a direct impact on the firm's effective marginal tax rate. Bribing tax officials can reduce tax payments of the firm if the marginal bribe rate is below the official marginal tax rate.
While performing work for a government or as a representative, it is unethical to accept a gift. Any free gift could be construed as a scheme to lure the recipient towards some biases. In most cases, the gift is seen as an intention to seek certain favours, such as work promotion, tipping in order to win a contract, a job, or exemption from certain tasks in the case of a junior employee giving the gift to a senior employee, who can be key in winning the favour.
In politics, corruption undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and the legislature reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the inefficient provision of services. It violates the basic principle of running the state affairs.
Corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government if procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. Corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance. Recent evidence suggests that variation in the levels of corruption amongst high-income democracies can vary significantly depending on the level of accountability of decision-makers. Evidence from fragile states also shows that corruption and bribery can adversely impact trust in institutions.
Corruption can also impact the government’s provision of goods and services. It increases the costs of goods and services, which arise efficiency losses. In the absence of corruption, governmental projects might be cost-effective at their true costs; however, once corruption costs are included, projects may not be cost-effective, so they are not executed, distorting the provision of goods and services.
Corruption also generates economic distortion in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital 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 infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on the government.
Corruption facilitates environmental destruction. While corrupt societies may have formal legislation to protect the environment, it cannot be enforced if officials can easily be bribed. The same applies to social rights worker protection, unionisation prevention, and child labour. Violation of these laws and rights enables corrupt countries to gain an illegitimate economic advantage in the international market.
The scale of humanitarian aid to the poor and unstable regions of the world grows, but it is highly vulnerable to corruption, with food aid, construction, and other highly valued assistance as the most at risk. Food aid can be directly and physically diverted from its intended destination or indirectly through the manipulation of assessments, targeting, registration and distributions to favour certain groups or individuals.
In construction and shelter, there are numerous opportunities for diversion and profit through substandard workmanship, kickbacks for contracts and favouritism in the provision of valuable shelter material. Thus, while humanitarian aid agencies are usually most concerned about aid being diverted by including too many, recipients themselves are most concerned about exclusion.
Corruption plays a huge role in the health care system, starting from the hospital to the government and lifting to the other institutions that promote quality and affordable health care for the people. The efficiency of health care delivery in any country is heavily dependent on accountable and transparent systems, proper management of both financial and human resources, and the timely supply of services to the vulnerable populace of the nation.
At the basic level, greed skyrockets corruption. When the structure of the healthcare system is not adequately addressed, beginning from oversight in healthcare delivery and supply of drugs and the tendering process, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds will always be observed. Corruption can also undermine health care service delivery, which in turn disorients the lives of the poor.
Corruption leads to violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms as people supposed to benefit from the basic health care from the governments are denied due to unscrupulous processes driven by greed. Therefore, for a country to keep citizens healthy, there must be efficient systems and proper resources that can tame the evils like corruption that underpin it.
Education forms the basis and the fabric in which a society is transformed and different facets of well-being are shaped. Corruption in higher education has been prevalent and calls for immediate intervention. Increased corruption in higher education has led to growing global concern among governments, students, educators and other stakeholders.
Academic promotions in higher educational institutions have been disabled by unlimited corruption. Presently, promotion is based on personal connections than professional achievements. This has led to a dramatic increase in the number of professors and exhibits their rapid status loss. Utmost the flawed processes in academic institutions have led to unbaked graduates who are not well fit to the job market.
Corruption is the enemy of development and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national objective. For wiping out corruption from the country, a strong-boned war is a dire emergency needed to be undertaken by the incumbent government under the dynamic stewardship of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib’s able daughter PM Sheikh Hasina.
The writer is a freedom fighter who writes on politics and international issues
Messenger/Disha
