Global increase in corruption should alarm us

The global increase in corruption, as attested by a survey this week, is an extremely disturbing trend. The corruption watchdog Transparency International has found in its survey that more than one person in two thinks corruption has worsened in the last two years.

Underlying how widespread graft has become, the watchdog’s global corruption barometer reveals that 27% of respondents have paid a bribe when accessing public services and institutions in the last year.

A corrupt society’s worst victims are the poor, of course.  Based on responses from 114,000 people in 107 countries, the survey shows that people living in poorer nations are twice as likely to have to pay a bribe as those in richer countries.

The survey also found that political parties are seen as the most corrupt institutions in 51 countries.

Corruption is increasing mainly because even as we speak loudly against it, we just don’t do anything about it. Also, many of us, though we are against graft in principle, don’t mind paying a bribe to get something done, to avoid a small delay or a minor inconvenience.

We just can’t contribute to corrupt practices, even in a small way, and then complain against the system that allows it to flourish.   

It is especially worrying to find that graft has worsened in most Arab countries since their 2011 revolutions, even though anger with corrupt officials was a major reason for the popular uprisings.

The survey appears to dash hopes that the Arab Spring would produce cleaner government and business in the region.

The Arab public’s continued frustration with corruption may undermine governments’ efforts to restore political stability, while hindering economic growth and foreign investment. Of four countries which experienced changes of government during the Arab Spring, a majority of respondents in three - Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen - feel the level of corruption has risen in the past two years, the survey shows.

The survey also points to growing public disenchantment in many other Arab countries which have not experienced revolutions but where the Arab Spring has increased political tensions.

Christoph Wilcke, Middle East and North Africa director for Transparency International,  wants the police, judiciary and political parties in Arab countries to be reformed in order to gain the trust of the public.

In the social and economic turmoil that has followed the Arab Spring, however, governments have had little time or energy to push such reforms.

But it is a good sign that the report has found that nearly nine out of 10 people surveyed globally would act against corruption, and that two-thirds of those who were asked to pay a bribe had refused.

Governments need to take this cry against corruption from their citizenry seriously and respond with concrete action to elevate transparency and accountability.