BY Rose Obah
Corruption is one of the biggest threat to the well-being of a society. Corruption degrades the quality of the services and also ruins the life of the common man. Corruption has fierce impacts on economic and societal development and is subject to a vast range of institutional, jurisdictional, societal, and economic conditions. Many countries in the world are affected by this problem called corruption. Unlike developed countries, corruption is at a high rate in developing countries and its causes are many and quite complex that even the promises of political parties to eradicate corruption is not easy. Corruption is primarily seen in instances like jobs, businesses, promotions, election campaigns, sports among others.
First of all, Bribery is the most common method of Corruption. Bribery involves the improper use of favours and gifts in exchange for personal gain. Furthermore, the types of favours are diverse. Above all, the favours include money, gifts, company shares, sexual favours, employment, entertainment, and political benefits. Also, personal gain can be, giving preferential treatment and overlooking crime.
Embezzlement is another area of corruption that is an act of withholding assets for the purpose of theft. Furthermore, it takes place by one or more individuals who were entrusted with these assets. Above all, embezzlement is a type of financial fraud. The graft is a global form of Corruption. Most noteworthy, it refers to the illegal use of a politician’s authority for personal gain. Furthermore, a popular way for the graft is misdirecting public funds for the benefit of politicians. Extortion is another major method of Corruption. It means to obtain property, money or services illegally. Above all, this obtainment takes place by coercing individuals or organizations. Hence, Extortion is quite similar to blackmail. Favouritism and nepotism is quite an old form of Corruption still in usage, including favouring one’s own relatives and friends to jobs. This is certainly a very unfair practice. This is because many deserving candidates fail to get jobs.
Abuse of discretion is another method of Corruption. Here, a person misuses one’s power and authority. An example can be a judge unjustly dismissing a criminal’s case. Also, influence peddling is another corrupt practice, illegally using one’s influence with the government or other authorized individuals. Furthermore, it takes place in order to obtain preferential treatment or favour.
Corruption thrives in conditions where accountability and institutions are weak, and where there is a shared expectation of corrupt behaviour. The collective and systemic character of corruption also makes it difficult to address. Corruption deeply undermines legitimacy and trust in public institutions and shapes people’s perceptions of government performance and state effectiveness. It skews the distribution of public services and has a disproportionate impact on marginalized and vulnerable groups, leading to increased inequality. While many forms of corruption affect both men and women, it disproportionately affects women, who also represent a higher share of the world’s poor.
There is no silver bullet for fighting corruption. Many countries have made significant progress in curbing corruption, however practitioners are always on the lookout for solutions and evidence of impact. The question again arises, how can we control this increasing corruption in our country, community, society and all facets in life? Individually and collectively we can work for a corruption free system.
The best solution to stop the corruption is to let every people participate when development plans are determined and reform agendas are set. Local communities must take part in decisions that affect their lives. Then they can work with their leaders to ensure their needs are met and the service breakdown corrected. And they can make politicians keep their word. If local people help monitor elections and service provision, the community can become a watchdog and help to reduce opportunities for corruption.
Another vital tool is ‘education’. With the help of education we can reduce corruption. Those who are uneducated or not informed, do not know about the process, provisions and procedures through which they can get justice. The corrupt public try to make a fool of them and often demand bribes. It is due to unawareness in the field of law, public rights and procedures thereof that a common and an uneducated suffer out of the corrupt society. This suggests that if we are educated, we can understand our rights well.
We need to change government processes. If the members of the governing body are government officials, there will certainly be less reports of the criminal cases. The reverse may be possible only when there are no corrupt officials in any government. Also, we can reduce corruption by increasing direct contact between government and the governed. We have legal rights to know a lot of information. This is a great help in the order to control corruption. Countries successful at curbing corruption have a long tradition of government openness, freedom of the press, transparency and access to information. Access to information increases the responsiveness of government bodies, while simultaneously having a positive effect on the levels of public participation in a country.
Lack of transparency and professional accountability is yet another big reason. We should be honest to ourselves. Until and unless we will not be honest, we can’t control corruption. If each of us is honest towards our profession, then corruption will automatically decrease. We need to pay attention towards professional accountability, how much we are faithful and truthful towards our profession.
Also, the youth of the society has a very important role in fighting the gigantic wild animal of corruption. General awakening can make the politicians and bureaucrats use their discretion carefully. Even in elections, the common Man must cast their vote on the basis of values and character of candidates. To eradicate corruption from the society, all have to fight it. It is the most powerful and the most dangerous monstrous evil, which rises to manifold itself stronger with the passage of time. To sum it up, Corruption is a great evil of society. This evil should be quickly eliminated from society. Corruption is the poison that has penetrated the minds of many individuals these days. Hopefully, with consistent political and social efforts, we can get rid of Corruption. Governments need to work with citizen in order to integrate anti-corruption measures into development policies. Then later on, citizens can help maximise the effective anti-corruption plan.
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