Dr Mahbubullah speaks to DOT
Transparency International publishes a report on graft every year. Bangladesh improves on the report in a year, and faces debacle in another. It all depends on the condition of a country.
What is even important is that the Anti-Corruption Commission chief himself said, “We are drifting in a sea of irregularities.”
Extracting a grass of water does not affect a sea much. Similarly, a little improvement or failure in a TI report does not impact us much. We are actually in the middle of a testing time and national crisis, getting rid of which is not so easy.
This is because those linked to graft do not do so keeping evidence of their criminal acts. The subjects of the ACC crackdown are the minor figures, not the big fishes.
The true kingpins do irregularities with political backing since without the latter’s support it is not possible to do so. Then again, many are engaged in graft.
The global anti-graft watchdog carries out research from different businesses, institutions and other samples. They look for others’ opinion in their survey. They do not go for numeric estimate. So the report can be dubbed as a quality one, not something numeric.
But it is up to you with regards to how you treat it. This is not like you are assessing it. There is nothing to be worried about with such reports. Rather these can be used in preparing a national strategy.
Dr Mahbubullah is an Economist.
Based on a translation by Khairul Alam, translated by Sayeed Muhammad
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