Bangladesh betters a bit
Bangladesh was ranked 13th from the bottom in the annual corruption perception index (CPI) by the Transparency International (TI), only one notch up from its position last year.
On a scale of 1 to 10, it scored 2.7, which is 0.3 points higher than the previous year. Countries scoring below 3 on the scale represent existence of unbridled corruption in their societies.
New Zealand scored the highest, 9.5, to top the 2011 list of least corrupt countries. Somalia and North Korea jointly became the worst scoring only 1.0 followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan both of which scored 1.5.
The Berlin-based global civil society group, campaigning against corruption, has been publishing the report every year since 1995. The report was published in Dhaka as well as other countries simultaneously yesterday.
The index is based on perception of how corrupt the public sectors -- both administrative and political -- of 182 countries are.
Bangladesh was at the bottom for five years (2001-2005) on the TI scale. In the following five years, it ranked third, seventh, tenth, thirteenth and twelfth.
In the list ordered from top Bangladesh stood 120th this year.
Among the South Asian countries, Bangladesh was ranked fourth, better than countries like Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Maldives but stands after Bhutan (5.7), Sri Lanka (3.3) and India (3.1).
Bhutan made a steady and remarkable development in curbing corruption and performed better than countries like Poland (5.5), South Korea (5.4), Hungary (4.6), Czech Republic (4.4) and Italy (3.9).
Score above 5 indicates success in moderate control in corruption.
Data of 17 surveys done by 13 international organisations and opinions from observers, including experts from inside and outside the countries, have been used to prepare the index.
However, not all surveys include all countries. Bangladesh was included in nine surveys for this year's index, which covered the period between January 2010 and September 2011.
Two Asian countries -- Singapore (9.2) and Hong Kong (8.4) -- were ranked fourth and 10th.
Countries like the USA, the UK, France, Austria and Belgium scored less than 8.0, indicating that corruption remains a serious global problem. The USA did worse than Qatar, Chile, Bahamas and Barbados.
LONG WAY TO GO
The report pointed out seven points that helped Bangladesh make the slight progress. Those are reaffirmation of strong electoral commitment, formulation of Right to Information Act and Whistleblower Protection Act, establishment of Information Commission and Human Rights Commission, citizen's charter in service providing institutions, training on anti-corruption in government bodies and formulation of an implementation strategy of the UN convention against corruption.
“There is no scope to be satisfied with the improvement as the score still puts Bangladesh in the list of the most corrupt countries,” Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), said as he unveiled the report at a press conference in the Jatiya Press Club.
Bangladesh could have done better if relevant bodies like Anti-Corruption Commission were allowed to work independently, he said while replying to a question over the current status of the ACC.
Asked whether the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project left any impact on the index, he replied in the negative but warned that it will “definitely have adverse impact on the index next year”.
TIB also expressed its concerns citing eight issues responsible for pulling back the progress of curbing corruption.
The issues are controversial amendment proposal over the ACC law, failure to punish the corrupt, culture of boycott and conflict of interest in parliament, non-disclosure of assets by high profile personalities, allowing whitening of black money in the budget, amendments to public procurement and telecommunications laws, and partisan political influence on administration and other public services.
For upgrading Bangladesh's status in the CPI, the anti-corruption watchdog also made suggestions that include fulfilling anti-corruption election pledges of the government; strengthening parliament and its different committees, the ACC and the Election Commission; establishing integrity in judiciary and public service; and ensuring transparency in public procurement.
“I hope the government would consider the report as an incentive in the fight against corruption,” said TIB trustee board Chairman advocate Sultana Kamal.
M Hafizuddin Khan, a member of the trustee board, was also present at the press conference.
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