Islands Business - WE SAY: Corruption largely invincible and secret

‘Corruption is so institutionalised into the administrative systems of governments and the public sector that in many cases, people simply do not realise they have been victims of corrupt acts...What is worse is that few of those who realise it ever bother to lodge a complaint or pursue the matter in the knowledge that it is futile to fight something that is so large, all pervasive and yet invisible. So police and judiciary statistics could never be seen to reflect the true picture of corruption’

One of the seemingly unavoidable consequences of rapid economic growth in the developing world is corruption. As a country relentlessly pursues the fruit of economic progress, especially so when it exploits its natural resources to achieve this end, corruption tends to spread fast almost endemically throughout the country’s body politic and institutions.
This unfortunate scenario is evident in a large number of countries in every continent across the world with corruption and corrupt practices transcending all other temporal boundaries that divide humanity—be it politics, religion, nationality, race, culture or any other attribute.
Corruption is quite simply the huge invisible elephant in every office that makes any kind of decision involving any amount of money.
No one can see it, yet everyone knows it is there. Everyone seemingly ignores it, yet everyone knows it cannot be ignored. Everyone criticises it to no end, yet everyone is at some stage overwhelmed and smothered by the sheer size and manner of its juggernaut.
Global research resulting out of the work of policing agencies across the world estimates that more than $1 trillion or a whopping $1000 billion exchanges hands in bribes alone each year. This is a figure endorsed by World Bank sources but is based on at least decade old data.
The figure is guesstimated to be much higher in the most recent decade, as large chunks of the developing world have begun to register blitzing growth rates like never before while at the same time any concerted efforts to stem the rot have either failed to take off or become a cropper because of obvious widespread vested interests among both lawmakers and implementing agencies.
In any case, there can never be a true or accurate estimate of corruption anywhere in the world because as mentioned above, corruption is largely invisible and secret—a secret contract between the payer and the payee; though both these entities would readily and vehemently denounce corruption at the slightest hint.
Public sector corruption undermines public service efficiency and affects delivery of services, negatively affects confidence in public institutions and increases the cost of public transactions.
Corruption is so institutionalised into the administrative systems of governments and the public sector that in many cases, people simply do not realise they have been victims of corrupt acts as it is assumed to be part of the process.
What is worse is that few of those who realise it ever bother to lodge a complaint or having done so pursue the matter in the knowledge that it is futile to fight something that is so large, all pervasive and yet invisible. So police and judiciary statistics could never be seen to reflect the true picture of corruption.
Perhaps the only reliable analyses of corruption across the world comes from organisations like Transparency International, which publishes statistics based on people’s perception as well as other analytical tools applied to the economic and political realities of individual countries.
Undoubtedly, the two most important things that have a bearing on such analyses is the economic situation of each country, the degree of poverty and the levels of education and literacy.
Out of the 200-odd countries and territories in the world, just about 163 are analysed in the survey due to an absence of reliable data from the remaining countries. These countries are plotted on a scale of 0 to 10 with the perception of corruption receding toward the higher figure. According to this scale, Finland, Iceland, and New Zealand are perceived to be the world’s least corrupt countries.
A score of 5.0 is the number Transparency International considers the borderline figure distinguishing countries that do and do not have a serious corruption problem.
Unfortunately, of the two Pacific Islands countries listed in the surveys, both Fiji and Papua New Guinea, which can be considered the most advanced economies in the region—figure below this important threshold of the perception of corruption.
Fiji ranks 55th in the list of 163 countries and is 4 on the scale of 0 to 10, and Papua New Guinea is listed well below at 131 and scores a dismally bleak 2.3 on this scale.
Papua New Guinea’s case is extremely because it is in the early stages of development driven by the exploitation of its vast natural resources in an environment consisting of large swathes of the population that are impoverished and with low literacy levels coupled with poor knowledge of their native and property rights.
The ‘2010 Walk Against Corruption’, therefore, that gets underway in the first week of this month is a step in the right direction in raising awareness among the country’s masses.
Over 70 government, public and private corporations have come together to sponsor teams from schools and tertiary institutions to field thousands of participants in the 2010 Walk Against Corruption in Port Moresby.
As well as raising awareness, the march hopes to also raise funds to keep the local operations of Transparency International going. There is no doubt that organisations such as these need to be strengthened especially in PNG’s context.
With the expected doubling of the LNG output from the country’s hydrocarbon resources and the exploitation of both inland and seabed natural resources, the scope and incentive for the rise of corruption can only be expected to grow in geometric progression.
The only and most potent way to counter this is by employing people power, which in turn can be galvanised by awareness raising initiatives like this month’s Walk Against Corruption.
It is indeed heartening to see the country’s most high profile and best known organisations supporting the cause along with well known individuals who command national respect like the Governor-General himself.
While these measures are most welcome in that they spread awareness, it would be naïve to expect such initiatives to have any big effect in reversing the trend. But if there is anything at all that can achieve this end to even the smallest extent, it is people power—if people share a unity of purpose with sincerity, they can truly make a difference.
Integrity is the most essential element for building strong institutions resistant to corruption. And only people power can help achieve that.