Topper in corruption again!

We are saddened by Bangladesh's ranking at the top of the Transparency International (TI) corruption perception index. But we are more saddened and angered by the fact that the government has done so little and taken so few steps to mitigate the disrepute against the backdrop of four consecutive such rankings, prior to the latest one.

We are tired of being perceived to be the most corrupt country in the world. And we are even more tired of the government's inaction over time not to have shed the stigma thus far.

Corruption is no doubt deep-rooted in our society and institutions. But if examples are anything to go by, countries like Nigeria and Kenya had at one time or the other taken drastic steps to redress some legitimate concerns over corruption in one or the other aspect of governance in those countries. Interestingly, they have been able to eliminate some specific factors of corruption. So, there is no reason why the government of Bangladesh could not have done so if similar ruthless steps were taken in good time.

The government vehemently protests the TI report after its release every year. But the question is, what tangible steps have been taken to reduce corruption which has been endemic anyway -- never mind the ranking?

Unfortunately, we have had to say the same thing over and over again to the government for bettering its records, but to no avail. Other than a lame ACC, what does the government have to show to prove that it is fighting corruption in all seriousness? Even here, the government took three years to form the ACC, the election pledge notwithstanding.

Every day new reports of corruption keep hogging headlines. The cabinet ministers, PMO, political leaders and their relatives are often alleged to have had links to corruption. Have these been investigated, have any heads rolled? None, to our knowledge.

The government responds to the corruption stories by putting the press itself in the dock without doing its part to ameliorate the situation. And ministers are on record having dubbed the TI reports as a deliberate attempt to stigmatise the government. In fact, the TI reports are a mere reflection of the perception held, analysed and evaluated globally by 12-14 monitoring groups. If the government so wishes, it can elicit public opinion on the corruption issue with the predictable result that their perception wouldn't be fundamentally any different from the TI's.