Adopt zero tolerance against corruption

The higher-ups in the government have time and again spoken about adopting a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against corruption. Nevertheless, most often, these utterances have remained in the realms of inane platitudes.

However, a recent development has given the citizens a ray of hope. According to a TBP report published on Saturday, the Commerce Ministry has sent Md Imran Hossain, an assistant director of the Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP), into forced retirement after allegations of corruption and misconduct against him were found to be true.

Yet it must be said that the above-mentioned official is a small fry. The majority of those who deal in huge corrupt practices go under the radar more often than not. Vigilance against corruption is not strict enough and this evil phenomenon continues to gnaw away at the vitals of the country’s economy.

Without robust systems and institutions, corruption remains deeply rooted in Bangladesh’s state and society. There may be hardly anyone in this country who has not indulged in or suffered because of corruption.

“Power tends to corrupt”, the saying goes “and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Such words are easy to toss around in Bangladesh whose citizens have seen the process first-hand and numerous times in the existence of their still young country.

Each day is an exercise in navigating the corruption and power nexus, with even some petty overlords or government functionaries of a middling and insignificant sort demanding their palms be greased for doing what is essentially their job. When the bottom feeders are this way, the top naturally excel at the job; one constant in Bangladesh’s story has been the rotating cast of the corrupt seen to be looting the country’s coffers. Everything changes but not this.

We believe that while the abuse of power is common among the corrupt, the threat or actual prevalence of accountability can drastically reduce the abuse of power. Of course, accountability is far easier to prescribe and far harder to enforce, particularly in places such as Bangladesh where it is more or less endorsed and even encouraged by the prevailing culture. The difficult question here is how to change a system that encourages, even requires corruption to succeed. As the example about parking tickets and diplomatic immunity illustrates, effective policing or enforcement is required to get everybody to get in line and follow the rules.

A corrupt system makes it difficult for good people to survive within it. Their choices are to become complicit with the system, do as others do, and forget about being a good moral actor or to exist outside the system to the extent that is possible. This is particularly true where politics are concerned; good people who do not want their conscience to be ravaged simply cannot enter this realm of the compromised.

We see greater social acceptance of the misuse of power for personal financial gains. The current state of affairs is placing new, harsher constraints on the economy, and raising the cost of public service delivery, besides affecting the country’s credibility among its foreign creditors and investors as a transparent country. To improve its international standing as a clean and transparent nation, Bangladesh must revamp its laws to fight corruption, stop using the agencies for nefarious purposes, properly train its staff, and ensure greater transparency in the public sector decision-making processes.