THIS is with reference to the report ‘Survey finds gap between real and perceived corruption’ (Feb 4). Alarmingly, the perception of corruption, euphemistically termed ‘malpractice’, standing at 67.06 per cent happens to be more than 50 percentage points higher than the lived (reported) corruption figure of 15.6pc.

According to the survey, 59pc believed that public servants enriched themselves earning through illegal means, but only 5pc admitted that they had personally observed public servants amassing illicit wealth.

A federal minister has rightly said that transparency and accountability are the foundations of good governance, and are essential for citizen satisfaction, a business-enabling environment, investor confidence and sustainable development. He warned that negative perceptions, if left unaddressed, could really undermine progress and distort realities, and he called for efforts to bridge the perception-reality gap, though without clarifying as to which of the two elements — perception or reality — needed the real improvement.

As an 87-year old, who has lived and worked in Europe and Africa for over two decades and has been a keen reader of newspapers right from college days, I would say that the problem in the country is basically of service delivery and provision of civic facilities by governments, and not so much of public perception. As for the big divergence in perception and reality, it is because of the near absence of free speech in society. I am not sure if this absence is voluntary or imposed, but it does prevent people from naming names and quoting specific instances of corruption because they feel rather unsafe, fearing real or imagined serious consequences.

S.R.H. Hashmi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2026