No way out?

The preceding AL government brought great shame to the nation when,during their tenure, Bangladesh came outas the most corrupt in the world in an independentassessment by Transparency International. Six yearshence, the stigma still sticks to us. The greed of the politicians has tarnished the reputation of a whole nation, and insulted their sense of pride. Successive governments have miserably failed to take any meaningful corrective action to deal with this issueeasily the number one topic in any agenda to improve governance.

Corruption, defined as misuse of official position for personal ends, is a crime that can be committed only by the people in power. You and I can only be the victims of corruption, suffering financial loss by having to part with scarce resources, and worse, for undergoing the humiliation of having to do so under duress. There may be some willing bribers, but a vast majority of people pay only when the choice is between bribing or going without a much needed service for which no alternatives exist.

In a system full of sharks waiting for their pound of flesh, there is nowhere to go for redress of grievances. The ministers who blame people for paying bribes should ask themselves what alternative arrangements they have made for someone who, for example, needs a driving license but cannot get one unless he pays? If the ministers were serious there could have been a departmental official, for redress of grievances, to whom people had guaranteed access.

By and large, we have had governments that are friendly to the corrupt and hostile to the honest and the conscientious. Look at people they have selected, as university VCs, and in courts, regulatory bodies, and so-called constitutional bodies and constitutional positions. Competence and suitability of the candidates is never the issue. Loyalty and the willingness to cooperate without asking any questions is the only criterion. For this they have made judges out of people who forged certificates, and promoted cronies superseding competent professionals. This is because organized bribe taking and large scale money siphoning are collective activities that need the help of cronies. The goals are to maximise personal gain and to fill the party coffers, the latter being subservient to the former.

Now that the tenure of this government ends in a few months, the books of account of bribes receivable will be closed for the time being. Thieves, with their booty of stolen public money and private bribes, will be allowed to retain and enjoy the fruits of their crime.

Large scale corruption, when condoned by legal authority and allowed to go unpunished, becomes guilt-free and socially accepted and expected. So, the bribe takers can even get ready to change roles and play the good guys in the opposition. The game goes on. But even officially sanctioned corruption remains very corrosive, and surely and subtly eats into the underpinnings of the state and the society.

People now have their backs to the wall. Businesses drown in a sea of corruption. Price manipulation of daily essentials destroys purchasing power and robs people of their sense of peace and security. It is a huge mess created by many sinners, small and big, but responsibility rests solely on the shoulders of those who, while in power and with the responsibility to look after the interests of the nation and the state, looked only after their own never-ending greed.

We have seen two acts of this play and now know all the scenes and dialogues by heart. We have seen the heroes and villains and know that they are two sides of the same coin. There is no anticipation of a better future, only the fear of dreadful repetition. Is there no way out?

Mansur Ahmed is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.