“Without strong watchdog institutions, impunity becomes the very foundation upon which systems of corruption are built.” – Rigoberta Menchú Tum.
Corruption has been in existence over a very long period of time, within all types of human societies. A global community does not dispute the fact that corruption is universal. It exists in almost all the countries, public and private sectors, and even in non-profit and charitable organisations.
People are more familiar with allegations and charges of corruption in politics than in any other arena. However, there are examples of business establishments and other well-respected Government as well as non-Government organisations losing their credibility due to corruption.
Even though media organisations are not particularly immune to it they thrive on information about corruption in big companies, high ranking Government officials, especially in developed countries, and leaders of countries.
General public
Media companies have realised that they can make a lot of money feeding into the fascination that the general public has about seeing prominent personalities in embarrassing situations.
Sri Lankans have had enough and more opportunities, especially since 1948, to understand how corruption can destroy a country, economically as well as politically.
That is not to say that there was no corruption prior to independence. History shows that colonial rulers have been instrumental in promoting corrupt behavior of elites of their colonies, who have been loyal servants of the colonisers.
Though the colonisers implemented a strict set of rules against corruption among their own officers, they turned a blind eye towards the officers from the local community with the intention of securing their loyal services.
European colonisers assumed that the local community is not evolved enough to follow those stricter rules they set for their own officers and nepotism, bribery and the institution of polygamy and public acts of cruelty are characteristics of inferior race.
It is difficult to say whether there is more corruption around the world now than perhaps one hundred years ago or people simply give more attention to it now since it is much easier to access information than those days.
Fall of dictatorial and authoritarian ruling system through, for a lack of a better word, democratisation which promoted an environment of free speech and transparency may have contributed to the increased attention towards corruption around the world.
Globalisation and a greater reliance on market economies where corruption not only hinders economic activities but also destroys development of countries in the long run, have an impact on this increased awareness too.
For example, there was a time when American companies lost to their counterparts from other countries in bidding wars for projects and businesses in developing countries since bribing foreign officials for such purposes is a criminal act under the US laws.
Bribes can be in all types of different forms such as money or other materialistic products, different types of services including sexual favours and slavery, mainly depending on the need of the taker and the resources available to the giver.
The nature of the transaction may also depend on the culture and the social norms within which it takes place. It is interesting to see, that some of those methods have become generally accepted norms in some societies after being in practice for a long period of time, where the transaction can take place out in the open without even being challenged by onlookers.
Once the system is established nobody would want to challenge that since they know that it is easier for them also to get it done that way, if and when they have to get that same thing done.
Expected behavior
One other aspect of bribery is that a particular transaction categorised as a bribe in one society or country may just be the normal behavior or even expected behavior in another country.
In certain cultures, if a family member of a CEO applies for a job in that company the applicant and the rest of the relatives expect the CEO to influence the hiring process to secure the job for the relative. If that didn’t happen, then the CEO is blamed for not being loyal and duty bound to the family.
One of the reasons, excuses, or justifications people hear about bribes Government officials take in some countries is that they are not paid enough to sustain a reasonable standard of living and therefore they don’t have any other option but to ask for bribes.
An officer may be approached by bribers asking him to bend the rules or even break laws to obtain some benefit or avoid a certain cost. There may be an official willing to earn that extra money justifying it citing the inadequate compensation by the Government.
When his colleagues see the benefits some of them would also get into the practice. It will spread like a disease and soon the officers not taking bribes will be a small minority without much power to fight the epidemic.
The Government may also take advantage of the situation not by punishing the official taking bribes, but by not increasing their wages or even by reducing it on the assumption that the officials are getting extra compensation anyway.
These types of justifications and reactionary processes can establish completely new cultures in state sector services. This does not in any way imply that the private sector is completely clean since the wages are higher and the employees are satisfied with their benefits.
Employees in the private sector may not be able to take bribes to provide the services to their customers, but the owners or the governing bodies are known to play the game in beating competitors, winning lucrative tenders, winning sales contracts, obtaining trade licenses, and even manipulating share markets.
Politicians enter the game by using their power to influence Government agencies issuing relevant licenses or approvals even deciding whether certain business deals should be allowed or not depending on the commission they get.
Private companies expect the politicians to make decisions and even introduce certain policies so that the company can secure monopolistic status in certain areas since they have contributed to the political campaign of the politician.
Weapons are the biggest money-making deals in the world and that is why weapon manufacturing countries welcome armed conflicts and wars.
Though we see innocent people dying and a lot of people becoming refugees due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine there are a lot of people in countries around the world including Ukraine who are becoming richer by the millions due to that same war, some through selling their products and services and the others through commissions and bribes.
The players
Most people believe that if the politicians played a clean game, then their cities and countries will do better. The players would do anything to win irrespective of the damage they might inflict on others in the process.
Most of the men and women who are into partisan politics have questionable character and tainted records. Corruption has become the necessary basic skill to play the game. There may be a lot of honest, intelligent, and capable people in the country, but they would never think of being a part of this game.
Those people keep quiet basically with the intention of taking one of the two options they have. Be ready to leave the country when the conditions become unbearable or be ready to go down the slope together with those corrupting the society and draining the life out of the country.
Anyone who is willing to spend a little time looking at the history of the world will be able to see how many times this scenario has repeated itself, especially in poor, underdeveloped and developing countries around the world.
The writer has served in higher education sector as an academic over twenty years in the USA and fifteen years in Sri Lanka and he can be contacted at [email protected]