Pakistan takes eight steps to be more corrupt
October 27, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan goes down to 34th from previous 42nd rank in a global list of perceived corruption published on Tuesday by Transparency International (TI). “Corrupt practices have increased in the country,” the Berlin-based non-governmental organisation said.
Iraq and Afghanistan came near the top of the global list. “The results indicate a serious corruption problem,” it said. “Allowing corruption to continue is unacceptable; too many poor and vulnerable people continue to suffer its consequences around the world,” said TI’s president Huguette Labelle in a statement.
Iraq was fourth from top of the most corrupt ranking, Burma shared second place with Afghanistan and lawless Somalia was considered the world’s most corrupt country, with a score of 1.1.
At the other end of the scale, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore were seen as the nations least blighted by corruption, scoring 9.3 points. They were followed by Finland, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands.
Criticised for going the other way were the United States, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Madagascar and Niger.The United States was 22nd on the list, while Greece and Italy came in at 78th and 67th respectively. China was level with Greece. — INP
AFP adds from Berlin: Nearly three-quarters of the 178 countries in TI’s annual survey scored on the sleazier end of the scale, which ranges from zero (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (thought to have little corruption).
“There should be nowhere to hide for the corrupt or their money,” Labelle said.The head of the group’s German section Edda Mueller said the overall international situation was “very worrying”.
She added that the percentage of countries below average was “a very bad signal for attempts to solve global problems.”“There are clear indications that the more unstable a country is, the higher the level of corruption,” Mueller told AFP.
She stressed the need for the international community to put credible governing structures in place in so-called “failed states.”“That is at least as important as billions in development aid,” she said.
Certain countries were singled out for an improvement in their fight against graft, notably Chile, Ecuador, Macedonia, Kuwait and Qatar. Mueller said that the performance of these countries should serve as hope and inspiration for countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
“There is still hope. We put in some countries that have improved their score precisely to show that there is the chance to improve and that it is possible.”The ranking is compiled from “a combination of polls, drawing on corruption-related data from expert and business surveys carried out by a variety of independent and reputable institutions,” the NGO said.
TI said corruption was hampering efforts to combat “the world’s most pressing problems” such as the financial crisis and climate change.The watchdog also noted that of the 36 countries that have signed the OECD’s anti-bribery convention forbidding greasing the palms of foreign officials, “as many as 20 show little or no enforcement of the rules.”
This sends “the wrong signal about their commitment to curb corrupt practices,” TI said. Meanwhile, a press release of the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) stated that Pakistan’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score is 2.3 against 2.4 in 2009, and out of 178 countries, its ranking as most corrupt country has slipped seven ranks, from 42 in 2009 to 34 most corrupt country in 2010.
Syed Adil Gilani, Chairman TIP, said in last two years there have been unprecedented cases of corruption involving tens of billions of rupees in public sector organisations, which under the rule of law, should have been taken up by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
He said the political will of the government to fight corruption is lacking which has resulted in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo moto action against mega corruption in NICL, Pakistan Steel and rental power plants.
The CPI 2010 reveals that corruption in Pakistan is increasing, while in Bangladesh it is decreasing. Bangladesh was perceived to be the most corrupt country in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and its ranking in 2010 is 39 most corrupt country. Reduced corruption has paid dividends to Bangladesh whose annual GDP growth last year was over 5%, while Pakistan’s GDP growth last year was near 2.4%.
The TIP chairman observed that delay in formation of an independent accountability commission by the parliament may further aggravate the situation. He said that the SC, which has a declared policy of zero-tolerance for corruption on March 22, 2009, in its order of October 12 in NICL Case No18 of 2010 involving six procurements, considers the violation of Public Procurement Rules 2004 as a criminal act.
It is a landmark order, treating violation of Public Procurement Rules 2004 as a federal crime and it will help reduction in corruption. The direct impact of increased corruption is witnessed in the rise in the prices of food commodities which according to the latest official data of Federal Bureau of Statistics, have increased up to 120 percent in last one year viz. sugar from Rs54 to Rs80, pulses from Rs50 to Rs110, eggs from Rs35 to Rs60, and the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the fiscal year 2009-2010 dropped to $2.21 billion from $3.71 billion in FY 2008-2009, and in July-Sept 2010 it is further dropped to $387.4 million (68% of last year). Foreign debt on Pakistan increased from $40 billion in 1999 to $46 billion in 2008, whereas in last two years it has increased to $53.5 billion.
The TIP observed that across the board application of rule of law, merit based appointments and easy access to justice is the only solution to save Pakistan from corruption, which is responsible for poverty, inflation, terrorism, illiteracy, lack of electricity and hording of essential food commodities.
On the other hand, India slipped four points from 91 last year to 91 in the world corruption rankings.The TI report says “perceptions about corruption in India have increased in the wake of the scam-tainted Commonwealth Games.”
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Govt ignored its own plan to end corruption
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s sharp downslide as one of the most corrupt nations in the world in 2010 is the consequence of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s utter failure to implement a reforms programme prepared by his own government to check corruption and improve governance.Government sources said that the National Governance Plan, prepared by a high-level committee headed by the then Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen, remained untouched while there had also been no progress in the implementation of the restructuring programme of the eight corruption-hit and badly mismanaged loss making leading public sector enterprises by September 1.
Additionally, it is said that the promise of setting up of a new accountability commission still remains unfulfilled. The sources said that after the issuance of 2009 report of Transparency International, which showed Pakistan overtaking five most corrupt nations to become 42nd from the previous 47th most corrupt country in the world, the prime minister constituted some official committees to introduce reforms to check corruption and bad governance.
Interestingly, the reforms plan was prepared and submitted to the government but the prime minister did not implement any of the recommended reforms. As a consequence, both corruption and bad governance touched new heights in Pakistan.
On Tuesday, the Transparency International found Pakistan slipping from the 2009’s 42nd position to the present (2010) 34th most corrupt country in the world.In April-May this year, Shaukat Tareen, just before leaving the government, submitted to the prime minister a “National Governance Plan” that sought from Gilani to take some bold initiatives and undergo radical changes in the present day’s governance to improve governance and check corruption.
The National Governance Plan recommended an immediate cut in the size of the federal secretariat by reducing the number of federal ministries down to 30; giving protection of tenure to key bureaucrats and heads of government organisations; introducing of motorway policing model throughout the country; replacement of patwaris by revenue assistants to be appointed by the public service commissions; rationalisation (reduction) in the size of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat; working out a new code of working relationship between a minister and a secretary; pay to government servants on the basis of performance; revision of Government Lands Act 1912 for better and transparent allocation and utilisation of state land; filling of strategic positions through open competition; and computerisation of land revenue record, court cases, police record, property tax, etc. None of these reforms has been implemented as yet.
The plan also expected from the present government to fix the minimum tenure of service for secretaries of the cabinet, finance, interior, establishment, provincial chief secretaries and heads of police departments, and any other such position to three years. In case of all other federal secretaries, the term of the tenure, the plan recommended, be protected for two years.
Similar protection of tenure was recommended for provincial home secretaries, heads of police and other similar positions at the provincial level.The plan also proposed restructuring of the Establishment Division into a professional human resource department of the Government of Pakistan having special emphasis on career management and training of the government servants.
It recommended that pay for performance may be introduced with five performance criteria i.e. excellent, very good, good, average and below average. Bonus and rewards for excellent performers along with a punitive framework with regards to promotions may be devised.
Tareen’s National Governance Plan also recommended that Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the government servants may be replaced with a redesigned open ended performance evaluation report in which goal and targets are set at the beginning of the tenure along with key performance indicators, which are tailored to reflect the scope of work and range of responsibilities relevant to each job.
The report sought restructuring of the key public sector institutions by appointing professional CEOs/head of organisations, whose appointment should be ratified by parliament. They should then be ring-fenced to act independently on financial and professional matters.
Government, it was proposed, should carry out restructuring of all public sector enterprises to improve service delivery, enhance transparency and avoid fiscal burden on the exchequer. However, nothing has been done as yet in this regard.
Restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has also been proposed and it was recommended that the FBR may be reformed with the aim of increasing the tax/GDP ratio, widening the tax base, simplifying tax laws, creating a transparent and easy to understand tax structure and fostering a culture of voluntary tax compliance through strategies to deter, detect and address non-compliance.
The report also sought strengthening of regulatory authorities by having reconstituted autonomous boards with appropriate private sector participation and an effective CEO, authorised to develop their own code of conduct and a strong management system.
Gilani had committed early this year to restructure Pakistan International Airlines Corporation, Pakistan Railways, Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation, Pakistan Electric Power Company Limited, Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Pakistan Agriculture Services and Storage Corporation, Utility Stores Corporation and the National Highway Authority, which instead of earning profits for the government are eating up hundreds of billions of rupees from the public exchequer because of massive corruption and mismanagement.
The prime minister had announced to restructure these public sector enterprises by changing their board of directors, appointment of new managing directors, CEOs and directors, approval of restructuring plans and starting of the implementation plans. September 1 was set as the deadline for this task but the Gilani government failed to do this and instead started plaguing organisations like OGDCL, State Life of Pakistan Corporation and others by making controversial appointments.