Corruption Scenario in Bangladesh and Combating Strategies

1.Corruption in Bangladesh is endemic and systemic. It affects all aspects of daily life and has become a feature of ‘how things are done’ for many private businesses, politicians, government officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Furthermore, it has permeated many institutions that have a role to play in the fight against corruption, including the police and judiciary.

2.Bangladesh was ranked by Transparency International (TI) as among the most corrupt countries in the world during 2001-2005. The World Bank Institute’s Control of Corruption Indicator also confirms that Bangladesh is positioned among the most corrupt countries in the world, with sharp increases in corruption between 1996 and 2004. The country’s standing has since improved, mostly as a result of the caretaker government’s pledge to fight corruption in 2007- 08. During this period, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was revitalized and legislative reforms were pursued.

On a more positive note, the issues of corruption are now discussed more openly in the country than in previous decades, with the media raising cases of corruption almost on a daily basis. 3.To discuss the corruption scenario in Bangladesh, likely causes and combating strategies. Corruption Scenario4.

Corruption is almost an acceptable culture in Bangladesh. It persists at all levels of government and non government machineries. The environment of corruption is discussed in succeeding paragraphs.5.Politicization of the Executive and Corruption. The politicization of the bureaucracy and public institutions whose rules or mandates forbid party affiliation has become partisan.

There is evidence that recruitment, promotion, transfer and retirement policies and processes are all influenced by political decisions rather than based on merit and civil service rules and regulations.6.Corruption in Public Service Delivery.Political considerations influence the functioning of all government sectors and hence of service delivery. A particular risk area is corruption in the awarding of public and private tenders.

Collusion between political leaders and bureaucrats in public contracting is an ever present risk.7.Local Government, Politics and Corruption.A study undertaken by TIB in 2005 highlighted that, among the elected public representatives, the Union Parishad chairmen were directly involved in 43.5% of reports of incidents of corruption. Besides, the Union Parishad members (27.

1%), municipal chairman (11.8%), members of parliament (8.2%), ministers (4.7%), ward commissioners (1.8%) and mayors (1.2%) were directly involved in the reported stories of corruption.

8.Politicisation of the Judiciary and Corruption.International and national agencies such as Human Rights Watch have reported on systematic political influence exercised on the enforcement of law and politically motivated uses of lower judiciary (false prosecution and selective bail) for the purpose of intimidating political activists. Corruption in the police force is widespread.

In their most recent household survey, TIB found that the majority of households had to pay bribes when lodging first information reports at police stations, when registering general diaries and when requesting clearance certificates. In the absence of any strong accountability mechanisms, incentives are strong for police personnel to continue with corrupt practices.9.Corporate Corruption.

Business and politics have increasingly become intertwined in Bangladesh. The last two decades saw the growing presence of business elite in the major political parties and in parliament. Political parties actively seek out wealthy businessmen for party nominations. Eventually some of them become leaders of different chambers and other government bodies, thereby cementing a close link between politics and business.10.

Corruption in NGOs.NGOs have historically played a very important role in Bangladesh and their rapid expansion reflects the success they have had in delivering services to the poor. In recent years, however, the NGO sector itself has come under increasing attack for weak governance. Corruptions in NGOs are in the form of nepotism, corruption in recruitment and promotion.

Causes of Corruption11.Inadequate controls over the use of public resources, absence of appropriate rules and regulations, weak professionalization in recruitment and training and low salaries all have contributed to providing incentives for public sector corruption. Although Bangladesh has a free press and active civil society, there is an overall lack of citizen empowerment to hold the government to account. Corruption is notable in sectors such as land, police, education, health, the judiciary and financial services. As a result, the social contracts between the State and the wider public and the quality of public service delivery have been undermined.Combating Strategies12.

Perception.It is worth noting that the perception of corruption in Bangladesh is an important factor in determining how solutions are devised and also implemented. A primary step towards making perception relevant is to re-define the term. The perception can be redefined as follows:a.The incidence of bribe payment needs to be realized as a crime than a perception or practice.

b.Although corruption leaves no paper trail behind – improved auditing processes that look at performance can play a useful role.c.Anti corruption actions need to be measured by keeping records of corruption investigation, prosecution cases and the number of audit observations acted upon by the government.13.Strengthening ACC.

In 2004, the ACC was formed replacing the Bureau of Anti-Corruption. But, ACC has a serious lack of capacity in its execution of the challenge to investigate and to prosecute. Its activities were over-ambitious, because it remained unsupported by the necessary capacity to channel the work with complete competence. There was a lack of focus on accountability and reporting mechanisms and a lack of oversight within the establishment. Thus, strengthening ACC with adequate capacity would help significantly to curb corruption.

14. Public Finance Reforms. The Bangladesh tax administration system is described as lacking transparency and poorly managed, in part because of “antiquated, convoluted and opaque” tax laws. 61 This again indicates the need to twin specific institutional support with support, or demand, for policy reforms.

15.Civil Service Reforms. Civil service provides the backbone of the administration in the society. Since independence, progress in civil service reforms has been extremely slow in Bangladesh.

There is a need of independent PSC and review of existing quota system in civil service. Human resource management in civil service need to focus on merit based and transparent promotion and transfer system.16.Judiciary and Police Reform.

To fight corruption effectively, the judiciary must be independent, impartial and effective. Although the Constitution explicitly provides for an impartial and independent judiciary, the judiciary is yet not completely separate from the executive; like, judicial powers to executive magistrates. The other areas for reform needed are professionalism, transparency and resourcing of the judiciary through changes to the legal and policy framework, incentives, physical and human resources, support to the Judicial Service Commission in recruitment and more thorough implementation of the Judicial Code of Ethics. Police of Bangladesh is under resourced, lacks capacity and is still based on a colonial, public order model which requires massive reform. The reforms should include both qualitative and quantitative improvements.

17.Peoples Participation. Empowering people with information and knowledge on service delivery at the local level would build capacity to demand and access public services. This would mobilize people to demand action against corruption.

The goal of people’s participation is to ensure a more accountable government at all levels. It would increase demands by men and women for transparency in public, non-profit and private sector transactions. Media can also play an important role to aware people about their right to service.Conclusion18.

Corruption in Bangladesh is a serious concern both domestically and internationally. Corruption has affected all aspects of daily life of the citizens. Corruption is vibrant in public sector. It includes public service, judiciary, police, corporate and also NGOs.19.

The causes for corruption in public sector are inadequate controls over the use of public resources, absence of appropriate rules and regulations, weak professionalization in recruitment and training and low salaries. Lack of citizen empowerment contributes a lot for increase of corruption.20.A change in perception about corruption is necessary to mitigate its effects in Bangladesh. The measures include strengthening ACC, reform of civil service, reform in judicial and police sector and also empowering people to ensure their participation at grass root level. “Power does not corrupt.

Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”