Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2 Corruption Causes and Solutions
2 Corruption Causes and Solutions
Accountability institution?
1. Auditor General’s (AG’s) Department,
2. the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
3. the Ombudsman
• Most respondents in a survey conducted by the Transparency International were of the opinion
that lack of accountability and transparency and discretionary powers were the main reasons for
corruption.
• Unfortunately, corruption has become an endemic in Pakistan . No structure , no rank and no
office of public sector is spared of it . Its spread is enormous . It has reached every department of
state – beyond executive it has put its claws on judiciary and legislature even . It would be no
exaggeration to say that the whole body of the state of Pakistan is suffering from this disease
and crying under its dead weight . So huge is its incidence that Pakistan is ranked 139th in the
ranking of Transparency International .
• Owing to outstanding performance of NAB, Pakistan’s corruption perception Index (CPI) has been
decreased from 175 position to 116.
• Corruption severely impacts the life of the citizens through fewer returns on resource use and
adds manifold to their cost of living . Origin of corruption in Pakistan can be traced to the mega
events of 1940s to 1990s and even the current decade . Serious attempts at accountability
originating in mid 1990s and fortifield on the turn of the century were actually turned into tools
of political support or victimization .
• At present there is practically a legal vacuum at the national level . A host of measures are
needed to eradicate this menace. The awareness in the general public and emergence of a strong
civil society , vociferous media and a newly independent judiciary all by themselves stand as a
guarantee to the success of any future programme of accountability .
• The corruption is of various types. It is a petty, grand or political. The petty
corruption is linked to the low salaried employees. This type of corruption
usually exists to fast track the administrative bureau tic procedure and
regulations. Therefore, it is generally referred as ‘facilitating payments’.
The general perception about this kind of corruption is that people indulge
in order to meet their living expenses. Thus the need a reason is applied to
this form of corruption. The grand type of corruption is associated with
high level bureaucracy. The greed and lust for power is the main factors
behind this type of corruption. The political corruption is related to
politicians. The expensive election campaigns, dispense the political favor
from the colleagues and to keep the sub-ordinates happy, cooperative and
loyal, and lust for power is few factors which inspire the politicians for
corruption. The incidence of corruption varies in rate of existence in
society. It may be rare, widespread and systemic.
•
• TI-Pakistan survey of government’s customers
• Respondents attributed . corruption to the
following factors. The weightage
• (total 100%) is given in brackets. The below
results emphasize the need for stronger
accountability
• •
• Two crises played a major role in the genesis of corruption
in Pakistan; the second
• world war and the mass migration as result of partition.
World war II led to an
• alarming increase in the procurement related corruption
leading to the creation
• of the first specialised anti corruption agency in the Sub-
continent, the Special
• Police Establishment. The migration resulted in vacuum in a
number of areas
• creating weaknesses having lasting effects that triggered
the initial phase of
• corruption.
• Historical factors – Area 1
• 1.1- Initial political vacuum created by lack of experience political leadership was
filled by incompetent bureaucracy leading to corrupt practices.
• .
In 1947, Pakistan inherited a weak economy, inexperienced politicians and a
• professional civil Service. Civil servants filled the vacuum created due to the
• lack of experienced politicians and took over governance of the country, running
• ministries even assuming the posts of Prime Minister, Governor General and
• President. The British tradition of pervasive, intrusive, extractive and elitist
• Government was maintained. On independence, the evacuee property distribution
• created several opportunities for corruption and in the following two decades
• corruption was facilitated by the over-regulated Industrialization policies
• 1.2- Dictatorial rule
• Dictatorial rule coupled with the Press and Publications Ordinance further
diminished the lack of Public accountability. This was made worse by the fact that
eminent politicians were
• weeded out through the Elected Bodies (Disqualification) Ordinance 1959. The
level of temptation was enhanced by the increased inflow of foreign aid For huge
infrastructure projects under military rule from 1958.
• 1.3- Nationalization in the seventies proved a critical trigger point.
• Nationalization in the seventies combined with civil services reforms and a purge of
over thirteen hundred civil servants proved a critical trigger point. The weakened
and insecure civil servants were asked to take on greater responsibility for running
• the nationalized units. they were forced to follow political induction adding fuel to
the fire of corruption.
• TI-Pakistan survey of government’s customers
• Respondents attributed . corruption to the
following factors. The weightage
• (total 100%) is given in brackets. The below
results emphasize the need for stronger
accountability
• •
Area- 2
• Pakistan’s national integrity system – its
institutions, political processes and civil
society in particular – are extremely weak.
These weaknesses allow corruption to flourish
and go unchecked.
• 2.1 Weak Legislature and the political system
• the political system is characterised by low
•
•
.
levels of political competition, poor quality of candidates, an undemocratic and
unaccountable party system, unreliable voting and weak political leadership.
• Underlying causes of a weak political system include low literacy rates, feudal
• structures and income disparities.
• 3.2 large scale discretionary powers given to ministers also produce corruption.
• .one area of particular concern in the past has been the large scale discretionary powers
accorded to senior officials and politicians, who had the legal right to make arbitrary
decisions, used to obtain political influence. Such rights have been largely eliminated but
examples from the past include the discretionary quotas of Chief Executives of the provinces
for admissions to professiona colleges and funding from the discretionary fund and the
allotment of plots by the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers.
• 3.3 Political affiliations and patronage given by politicians to senior officials also nurtures
corruption
• Furthermore, many of the grand corruptions of the past have been through the connivance
of the minister and senior officials Senior officials operate in a politicized environment,
where they rely upon patrons or other influential contacts, and are insulated from the need
to demonstrate improved institutional performance under their command. In recent years
ostensible displays of political affiliations, to win favours, by senior officials have been on the
rise. Most senior managers are less concerned with the organisation’s service delivery and
more about appeasing the ministers and prime minister or the chief executive, as the case
may be. The customer is the least empowered and he/she does not figure high in the
priorities of senior management who consider it an issue to be ‘sorted’ out by the minions.
At no level is he held responsible for failure in this area. So weakened have the senior
managers become because of alienation from service delivery that they themselves at times
are at the ‘mercy’ of crafty subordinates who monopolise knowledge of rules and
regulations.
• 3.4 absence of modern management accountability techniques
• At present, there is an absence of modern management accountability techniques. There are no
•
•
The performance evaluation system, .
output-oriented job descriptions linked to institutional outputs.
which should be the first building block increating a results-oriented and accountable institutional
culture, does not operate
• effectively. With no job descriptions, there is nothing to compare performance
• against. There are no performance evaluation criteria for each post, thus the
• process is largely subjective. No targets are set in advance against which an
• employee’s performance can be objectively measured. Furthermore, the system
• is not transparent, being confidential.
.
accountability by representing the concerns of the people. Such representative institutions are particularly
critical in the context of low social empowerment. However, Pakistan’s public accountability bodies have been
unable to fulfill their potential, and have not acted as an effective check on corruption The AG’s Department
stands at the pinnacle of the financial accountability pyramid, by reporting to the legislature on the
government’s stewardship of public funds
• and assets. However, the ability of the AG’s Department to act as a watchdog
• over financial integrity and to detect individual cases of corruption has been
• undermined by a number of factors:-
• First, the AG’s Department has lacked modern methodologies to uncover corruption.
• the technical proficiency of auditors has been variable, but low overall,
• particularly in areas where specialist expertise is required to uncover corruption,
• for example in construction, as well as in auditing techniques. The Audit and
• Accounts Training Institute was not able to offer a high standard of training due
• to lack of resources.
• Public Accounts Committee (PAC) refers to a committee in the legislature that must study public audits, invite
ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and issue a
report of their findings subsequent to a government budget audit.
•
involvement in the function of the commission . .
pass necessary legislation for such a commission . Moreover , the legislation must prohibit any political
•
• To begin the process of elimination of corruption , key political personalities of the Federal Government as
well as of all provincial governments need to straighten up their own acts . As a token of their firm resolution
to check corruption , they should solemnly pledge that offer of millions of rupees will never allure them .
•
• The process of enforcing accountability must be decentralized and spread through the institutional spectrum
. Without the right person in job , desired objectives cannot be achieved . So , if honestly be the objective in
making senior bureaucratic appointments , the primary criterion should be the personal integrity and
honesty .
• Corruption stems from the exercise of power and is a continuing phenomenon . Hence , an incessant ,
effective and institutionalized accountability process must always shadow those who have power . Ans if the
corruption crusade finds any chance of success , the government must establish its credentials as the
promoter of honesty .
•
• Process of accountability should be initiated from the top , corrupt officials should not only be dismissed but
also be imprisoned and deprived of their properties by confiscation . Currupt politicians should not only be
imprisoned and their properties be confiscated .
•
• The emphasis of the corruption elimination must remain cleansing the bureaucracy to establish it as a
bulwark against political corruption .
•
•
• The government must progress beyond arrests and allegations . The trials must begin
without any delay and charges must be proved in courts of law . Tricksters , tax dodgers
•
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and loan defaulters must be hounded and sent out jail as quickly as possible .
• The outcome of the battle against corruption lies with a basic transformation of
bureaucratic culture and sweeping changes in rules and procedures .
•
• The present political system based and entrenched on feudalism will have to be completely
demolished . Certainly , sovereignty and freedom of people of Pakistan have been taken
away by this class in the name of fake and free democracy where people have nominal role
. Concisely , the real solution is true and real democracy , decentralization of power , more
autonomy and maximum participation of the masses through honest political institutions .
•
• The awareness in the general public and emergence of a strong civil society , vociferous
media and a newly independent judiciary all by themselves stand as a guarantee to the
success of any future programme of accountability.
• Conclusion :
• Corruption in Pakistan can ce controlled or eliminated through the presence of a strong
and efficient monitor or a monitoring process , unfortunately , in Pakistan we lacked the
accountability and answerability both from the public servants and the politicians .
•
• There could be no other ways , if we want to eradicate and eliminate the corruption from
our beloved country , to keep it on the main agenda and adopt it as the top priority of
every government . If the government is fair is exercising its power and authority ,
corruption can be eliminated from Pakistan .