Pervasive corruption holds back progress in Bangladesh

(by Peter McIntyre, 18 Nov 2010)

Bangladesh has made strong progress over the past two decades – steady economic growth of 5-6%, a substantial increase in its Human Development Index rating, poverty levels that have declined by a third and child mortality down by more than a third. Iftekhar Zaman, Executive Director of Transparency International, Bangladesh, pays tribute to the success but points out that so much more would be possible.

“It can hardly be disputed that Bangladesh’s performance could have been much better if not for the pervasive corruption and persistent deficit in promoting good governance.”

Dr Zaman was due to make a keynote address at the IRC 2010 Symposium Pumps Pipes and Promises, in the Hague on Wednesday 18 November. He was prevented from travelling after breaking his leg in an accident.

Kathy Shordt, from the Water Integrity Network (WIN), spoke on his behalf and paid tribute to the 3,000 volunteers who have been mobilised in Bangladesh to improve transparency, working through ‘Concerned Citizens Committees’.

They are working in circumstances where for example one in four children have to pay to enter primary school, even though primary education is supposed to be free, and where bribes often have to be paid to get basic services.

However Kathy Shordt pointed out that although corruption levels are undoubtedly high in Bangladesh, it is a topic high on the public agenda, a major issue in the media and one that is addressed by every politician hoping to get elected. She contrasted this with the situation in Holland and the rest of Western Europe, where there is complacency about corruption and it is hardly mentioned in the public discourse.

“The bottom line is that we must all come to detest corruption – that is the key element in combatting it.”

She outlined how Bangladesh has taken the first step on this road and the key role that the Bangladesh Transparency International has played for example in bringing a right to information law into existence.

The group has recently begun to work on water issues – seeing its strengths as being its strong network of local activists and the fact that it is independent of sector bodies. Transparency International Bangladesh has used a number of tools to open up public information and bring people’s concerns to public attention. These include citizen’s report cards, participatory budgeting and tracking and persuading government and education bodies to sign integrity pledges.

These are now being brought into the water sector which Dr Zaman describes as being “plagued by corruption and failures of integrity” including bribery, abuse of power, negligence of duty, asset stripping, extortion, fraud and misusing influence. The main objective of bringing the integrity pledge into the sector – especially at service delivery level – would be “to bring the stakeholders to a social contract to ensure transparency, accountability and integrity so that its service recipients are not harassed or become victims of irregularities or corruption.

Kathy Shordt praised the way that Transparency International in Bangladesh had gradually entered the water sector and the effects it was already having. She urged everyone to address corruption issues in their own countries – especially in the richer countries where it was often hidden.

Dr Iftekhar Zaman’s paper – Integrity Pledge: Fight corruption through social accountability – is available online at http://www.irc.nl/.