"Corruption has spread like cancer in our country and society," said Mahabub Hossain, executive director of Bangladesh's biggest NGO and leading micro-credit agency, BRAC.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
Corruption in Bangladesh
In a country where 40 percent of the population lives less than a dollar a day, corruption is keeping the Bangladesh economy from improving. People have to pay bribes to get jobs, shop keepers raise their prices to keep up with bribes they have to pay and there are many more examples. Foreign investment dollars will not come into the country until corruption is cleaned up, but do government officials really want to clean it up?
From this great analysis from Reuters, reporter Anis Ahmed details how corruption keeps Bangladesh's economy from moving up.
Global watchdog Transparency International rated Bangladesh the world's most corrupt nation for five consecutive years from 2001. Subsequently the rating improved, to 10th in 2008, after a military-backed interim government took tough anti-graft steps.
However, TIB says its latest research confirms widespread corruption remains, and some others say it is getting worse again. The authories deny that, saying the monitors base their judgment mainly on often inflated media reports.
But people struggling day in and day out to make a living blame corruption for many of their problems.
"You will face it everywhere," said Shahadat Hossain, a teacher at a government primary school.
"I had to pay 100,000 taka ($1,430) as bribe to get this job. But the poor salary I get covers only a part of my expenses," he told Reuters.
"Grocery sellers ask higher prices every next day, doctors at government clinics won't treat my child without money or give me medicine supposed to be a free handout."
The government admits efforts to contain prices and introduce graft-free practices have largely failed, even though populist Prime Minister Hasina, who took office in January following a widely acclaimed democratic election, promised to address them.
"Corruption has spread like cancer in our country and society," said Mahabub Hossain, executive director of Bangladesh's biggest NGO and leading micro-credit agency, BRAC.
POSTED BY KALE AT 9:11 AM EMAIL THIS BLOGTHIS! SHARE TO TWITTER SHARE TO FACEBOOK SHARE TO GOOGLE BUZZ
LABELS: BANGLADESH, CORRUPTION AND GRAFT
__._,_.___
