Apolitical anti-corruption efforts must for sustainable success

LAHORE: Fight against corruption is a long-term effort that may span successive political administrations. That makes it critical for anti-corruption efforts to remain politically neutral as a national goal and above personal or political interests.

Unfortunately, this principle has never been adopted in Pakistan as all regimes confined anti-corruption efforts to political opponents only. Those that join the ruling party are given a clean chit.

This is the reason that we find the same individuals serving any government that comes to power. Corruption is also vogue in Pakistan because of its complex legal structures, undue discretionary powers enjoyed by public servants, absence of international accounting and audit standards and weak public accountability.

The entire administrative system has become a breeding ground for corruption. Officials are mostly rent seekers and it is not in their interest to address corrupt practices. The complex legal procedures that prolong the litigations indefinitely favour mostly the actual culprits incentivise dishonest individuals. Cases relating to enforcement of contracts, non-payment of loans, fines imposed by regulatory authorities should be decided quickly through regular daily hearings. This would increase the comfort level of genuine local and foreign investors.

In the absence of transparent policies and systems for selection and appointment of public officials, clearly stated procurement procedures; the social evils like nepotism, favouritism, and even “sale of vacancies” may be nurtured. The concerned officials have a great propensity to exploit the situation to extort bribes.

It seems that businesses also have interest in continuation of the present opaque governance system. Most of the businesses in Pakistan have not adopted the international standard of reporting in accounts and audit and the bribery money often originates from undeclared wealth.

Bribes are often paid out of slush funds, from amounts hidden in off-the-books accounts. Sometimes this effect can also be achieved by keeping two sets of books – one official and one reflecting the real state of affairs.

Genuine investors understand that they suffer immensely due to corruption. The excessive cost of contracts awarded or kickbacks have a built-in cost factor that may also compromise the quality of work standards, creating a vicious circle of debt burden and inferior service in the economy.

Every economic manager realises the need to address this menace but lacks the political support to address the issue. Our economy is in dire state because of these flaws and successive governments have managed their tenures by mortgaging the nation through intensive borrowing. The debt has gone so high that it has become unmanageable. We have to take loans to payback the past debt. The burden is increasing with each passing day. The present government is doing the same and is following the legacy of past regimes.

It has not been able to improve governance. Nepotism and favouritism is still the order of the day. The fact that the investors are still not responding to the overtures of the government shows that the things have not improved enough to lure investment.

This government has admitted its failure by passing out the losses it incurs because of power theft to the consumers. We cannot pass on the blame of very low human capital in Pakistan as an inherited legacy. However, they have not taken any step to enhance the human capital of the country.

It has been observed that countries with a literate workforce for instance perform better than countries where literacy rate is low. Countries with high literacy rates, but very weak economy have overtaken Pakistan in the last fifty years because of better human resource.

Literacy rates in 1960s were as high as 71 percent for the Republic of Korea, and 68 percent for Thailand, while Malaysia achieved a rate of over 50 percent. On the other hand the literacy rate was low at 16 percent in Pakistan at that time.

After almost five decades, the literacy rate in Pakistan has improved officially to around 60 percent but it is still lower than the literacy rate of Korea in 1961. On the other hand the literacy in South Korea has reached 98 percent and Malaysia has managed to reach a rate of over 90 percent.