Corruption getting worse, says poll
More
than one in two people think corruption has worsened over the last two years,
according to a public opinion survey by Transparency International. Its annual
Global Corruption Barometer found 27% of respondents said they had paid a bribe
when accessing public services and institutions in the last year. The survey
covered more than 100 countries. Perhaps it's time to challenge our perceptions
of corruption
The
evidence suggests a global pandemic, a disease which infects and corrodes and
rots. Most people appear to think it's getting worse. And yet the reaction is
often just a tut - it's other people's problem, or a shrug - it's always been
with us and it always will be.
It is
corruption.
It is
an act, a fact of life, which occurs - by and large - in the shadows. Some,
though, are trying doggedly to draw back the curtain - among them, the
Berlin-based pressure group, Transparency International. Its latest global
survey of corruption covered 107 countries and 114,000 people. And most of them
say that corruption has worsened over the last two years.
There are some depressing, if
predictable, trends. You are twice as likely to pay a bribe in a poor country
as a rich one. In one in three countries, the greasiest palms belong to the
police. In almost one in five, the judiciary. Overall, one in four people
surveyed say they have paid a bribe.
Nor is
it simply about discreetly folding money into an official's palm. It is
political parties, "the driving force of democracies", as TI calls
them, which are perceived to be the most corrupt public institution.
That
is, in large part, because corruption is not just about bribery. Almost two out
of three people say they believe personal relationships are what help get
things done in the public sector - one in two say their government is largely
or completely run by special interest groups.
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