The scourge of corruption

One side of the Ali Akbar Dail Union in the island of Kutubdia in the south of Bangladesh is fully exposed. Waves of the Bay of Bengal are breaking on part of the shore where there should be a coastal protection embankment.

The people of the coastal areas are living with dread. In the rainy season, sea water almost flooded the homes of local people: collectively they somehow managed to protect themselves by topping up the shore with soil.

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Those who can recall the devastating cyclone of 1991 know that another catastrophe is just a matter of time. Only a single wave of the sea is enough to raze their unprotected villages to the ground.

After the disaster of more than a decade ago, a huge amount of money -- much of it foreign assistance -- was pledged and spent in the name of protecting the coastal embankment and saving Kutubdia.

So why is Kutubdia still unprotected? The people of the Ali Akbar Dail Union complain that they are still vulnerable to the sea because of pilferage and corruption. They complain that millions of Takas which were supposed to have been spent in the name of embankment construction have in fact gone into the pockets of corrupt people.

Corruption: Where does it start?
Kutubdia is a long way away from Dhaka. Passengers coming to the island by boat sometimes risk their lives getting to the island when the sea is rough. Many mainland facilities do not reach Kutubdia. There is no electricity, no provision of medical facilities and not even a decent road. The one thing that has been successfully exported from the mainland across the rough sea is the scourge of corruption.

For local people, that is a source of much frustration.

ASM Shahriar of Uttar Dhurum Union of Kutubdia said that while the embankment is built every year, invariably it breaks down. He says that it is a mystery to him why the water development board does not try to build a permanent embankment.

Many islanders say that such a move is an obvious solution: once it is built, money for temporary embankments will not be necessary, and opportunities for annual pilferage will disappear.

When the subject of the embankment was raised, the voice of Abu Hanif -- a resident of Ali Akbar Dail -- blazed with fury. Some contractors steal, he said, while others do low quality jobs in connivance with the authorities.

"While they are supposed to top the old embankment with three feet of soil, they just finish the work after using only one and a half feet," he said. "The rest of the money goes into their pockets or the pockets of the engineers.

So how is it that such corruption can take place on a yearly basis, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of people?

Porshed Alam is a contractor for the water development board. He was engaged with many embankment building initiatives and said that he is familiar with the ins and outs of pilferage in the embankment construction industry. Mr Alam estimates that fifty percent of money allotted for embankment building is not spent.

He gave an example to support his argument. Assume that a job will be tendered, he said, which might cost millions of Takas. But there is a vast difference between the actual and estimated costs. Surplus cash is distributed among contractors, influential local people and engineers assigned to oversee the work.

Mr Alam said that he has come across cases where twenty-million Takas have been estimated to complete work in which only around half that figure is actually spent on the project.

Cycle of corruption
One of the big aspects of corruption at a local level -- such as Kutubdia -- is that local people are affected directly, and often their lives and livelihoods become endangered. When it comes to corruption in the big cities, or in large government or non-government organisations, the whole country is affected.

Let us consider the question of corruption at the country's biggest sea port, Chittagong.

According to a study by Transparency International, bribes involving millions of Takas are exchanged each year in Chittagong port, affecting the export and import of goods.

Businessmen complain that the enormous cost of corruption in Chittagong Port has made it become the most costly port of the region. It has added to their business costs, and made them vulnerable to competition in the world market.

So how is the corruption question being dealt with in the port? MA Salam is vice-president of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers Association (BGMEA), the association of factory owners in the ready made garments industry. He thinks that the opportunity for corruption comes from within the bureaucratic port administration.

Many ready made garment factories of Bangladesh have ceased operating in recent months because of increased competition in the world market. But the factories have also been made less efficient because of the cost of corruption.

Smrity Akhter -- a typical victim -- used to work in such a factory. She is not aware of the connection between the loss of her employment and corruption at the port. She only knows that many workers like her are jobless and unable to find work elsewhere. Smrity Akhter wants the garments sector of Bangladesh to remain alive, little realising that it chances of survival are considerably reduced while the corruption menace remains.

While businessmen complain about the port administration and the customs authority, they too are not immune from allegations of corruption.

Sahadat Hossain, the chairman of the port, says that bureaucracy has been reduced, and that the time taken to offload and on-load goods has also come down. But he says the business community is failing to make similar changes.

Everybody points towards a recent incident in which a businessman imported two Mercedes cars, declaring them to be scraps. When he was caught, the cars were destroyed by the customs authority. All parties associated with corruption in the port claim their innocence and blame other parties. Yet none denies the fact that corruption exists overwhelmingly.

Why then can this corruption not be properly tackled and dealt with?

Anti-Corruption Commission
Almost all policymakers agree that the main reason is the absence of political goodwill.

Before the last general election the present alliance government promised to establish an independent anti-corruption commission. It took three years before it was finally set up, and then only after much procrastination. Even now, many doubt its independence, questioning whether it will be able to wield authority over the government.

The executive director of Transparency International, Iftekharuzzaman says that the commission's effectiveness is hampered because the government maintains financial and administrative control over it, right down to the appointment of commissioners.

Dr Zaman is also worried about the process of appointing staff in the commission from the ranks of the abolished anti-corruption bureau, which he says will send negative messages about its trustworthiness.

Such a conclusion is not shared by members of the commission themselves. One of them, M Maniruzzaman, told me that they certainly do have enough power to take action against corruption, and can do so at any level of government. He said staff on the commission are impartial, and only recruited after thorough screenings and assessments.

The kind of vigilance he describes will need to be applied diligently over many years if Bangladesh is finally to win its protracted struggle against the scourge of corruption.

The Daily Star is the print media partner of BBC for the programme Bangladesh Sanglap.