Crack down on corruption

It is concerning that a recent Transparency International, Bangladesh survey found that the people lacked faith in the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission. Corruption is a persistent plague in the nation’s quotidian functions, and a key factor when it comes doing things as simple as getting a new passport to much more complicated procedures such as establishing a business. The finance minister himself has stated that 2-3% of our GDP is lost due to corruption, while TIB thinks the value to be much higher. The nation is losing out on thousands of crores of taka that belongs rightfully to the citizens of this country. We just can’t afford that. This is why it is important that the Anti-Corruption Commission does what it is meant to do: Crack down on corruption. The persistent and ubiquitous nature of corruption in this country needs to be lessened and eradicated before we find ourselves at a point of no return. TIB has found that the Commission itself has not been impartial in its treatment of cases and that people were not available at their respective offices. Who will the people turn to? We urge the government and ACC to take TIB’s suggestions into account. There needs to be further transparency in its dealing with cases and it needs to equip itself with a long-term plan to ensure that the disease of corruption is treated and cured. The responsibility, however, doesn’t lie on ACC alone. The government and its various law enforcement agencies also need to come forward and be transparent in its dealings with criminals, both from within and outside of the governmental and judicial systems. All the agencies must work together to sever each and every head that springs up from the hydra that corruption has been allowed to become.