Corruption by any name

Published November 7, 2014
The writer is senior adviser, Pakistan, at Open Society Foundations, associate professor of economics, LUMS, and a visiting fellow at IDEAS, Lahore.
The writer is senior adviser, Pakistan, at Open Society Foundations, associate professor of economics, LUMS, and a visiting fellow at IDEAS, Lahore.

SOME argue that corruption, seen as ‘speed money’, ‘price of information’, or ‘kickbacks’, is not a big issue in any economy/ society. It is seen as the ‘grease’ that makes a system work. What is not taken into account in such narratives are the broader issues invoked when those who have been entrusted with a valuable asset decide to breach that trust.

There was a lot of land and assets that Hindus and Sikhs left behind in 1947 in the parts that became Pakistan.

Given that Muslims in India were in general not as rich as the Hindus and Sikhs, it might be the case that they were arriving in areas where more assets were available to them than what they had left behind.


The problem worsens when society starts expecting a certain level of dishonesty.


But the stories that have survived from the period — of frauds in settlements, of the undeserving making it big and many deserving families getting overlooked — show that not all was settled on merit and most of those who had been entrusted with the task of ensuring fair distribution did not live up to what was expected of them.

It remains an open question as to what impact this early corruption and undermining of trust has had on the psyche of the nation. But it did set up many games for the future. Land, even today, is a highly coveted asset in Pakistan. Investments in land continue to be some of the most lucrative even today and games for ‘plots’ are played even by the rich and mighty of the country. Some of our new ‘heroes’ are land developers.

Corruption has to be broadly defined and understood: it occurs every time, errors of omission or commission notwithstanding, people fail to carry out their responsibility.

Those not using their time, effort and resources optimally, given their commitments and responsibilities, are not doing justice to what they were entrusted to do. When the objective before us is human welfare then good intentions and correct methodology must be manifest in our behaviour and body language.

It is not only when a teacher takes money for passing or failing students that she does not live up to her commitments. If she is not teaching to the best of her ability and is not putting in the requisite effort, she is also not being honest with her commitments, her profession and with herself. Standards of integrity have to be set high. And many of them have to be internal standards though society will have to create binding external standards too in order to ensure optimum performance.

The problem for society as a whole becomes worse when people start expecting a certain level of corruption. Every action, intention and motive becomes suspect. Far too much time and effort is spent on trying to justify intentions and actions rather than on achieving the desired results.

Did the government make the Rawalpindi metro bus project for the benefit of the people or was the intention to also make money? Opposition parties allege that the cost of the project was inflated. In the end, the actual cost of the metro project is likely to be higher than even the budgeted amount. Where is the truth in all this?

Irrespective of the ‘truth’, look at the time and effort that has gone into fighting perceptions. Could we have designed more efficient systems for a) collating the need for such a project, b) having third-party estimates on cost, and c) more credible systems for ensuring transparency in government expenditures on the project?

Much of the current debate on corruption, elitism, privilege and VIP culture in our society is actually about the wider notions of trust and standards for expected behaviour. What is wrong with a minister delaying a PIA flight? Is this not a part of his privilege? What is wrong with the prime minister staying in a very expensive suite in New York when he could have stayed at a cheaper place as do many other heads of government/state?

Society is telling those in positions of privilege that what they have been given are positions of responsibility and not just of privilege. We can understand the need for security for the prime minister, but we do not understand the need for pomp and show. If a $1,000-a-night suite is good for other heads of government, spending anything more is unacceptable. It is a breach of privilege.

Those who are benefiting or have benefited from positions of power and privilege in one way or another would never like to be told that they should not be self-indulgent. They will also not like people who remind them of their indulgence. This is where societal norms play a large part.

In a society where abuse of privilege is seen by many as legitimate, changing the equilibrium will require a significant effort on the part of whistle-blowers.

Recent political movements have been claiming that this is exactly what they have been doing. And there is some truth to it. But a lot more will be needed before a credible and sustained challenge can be mounted against entrenched ways of doing things in Pakistan.

Laws against corruption and abuse of privilege have to be strong and have to be enforced. Lawyers are supposed to behave as protectors of the law. The latter at the same time is a rather blunt instrument for dealing with issues as deep and broad as breach of trust.

Setting the right societal norms have to go hand in hand with getting the laws right. Norms then also help in enforcing laws.

Times are changing in Pakistan. Maybe we will indeed be able to challenge existing norms and create better ones. But it is hard to see how governance can improve without a major overhaul in the norms that currently govern corruption, abuse of power and privilege and the breach of trust.

The writer is senior adviser, Pakistan, at Open Society Foundations, associate professor of economics, LUMS, and a visiting fellow at IDEAS, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2014

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