Slightly less corrupt

Transparency International says Pakistan has moved to 116th position out of 176 in 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index

It is the time of year when the professional number crunchers that look at the state of nations start to deliver results, few of them ever favourable for Pakistan. Thus it is that on the day that the Economist Intelligence Unit issued its democracy ratings and dropped the USA to number 21 and rates it as a ‘flawed democracy’; Transparency International (TI) operating out of Berlin tells us that Pakistan has moved to 116th position out of 176 in the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. A range of data sources are used to calculate a score for each state — the World Bank, African Development Bank and the IMD business school all contribute. The aim is to get a measure of public sector corruption, and the outcomes are generally accepted as being a crude rule of thumb for accuracy.

The TI report says that Pakistan scored 32 out of a possible 100 as compared to 30 points the previous year. India outscored Pakistan gaining 40 and got itself ranked at 79. New Zealand and Denmark topped out with 90 apiece, and Germany, Luxembourg and the UK managed 81 each. The USA came in at 18 with a score of 74.

It is a mistake to dismiss reports such as this as sophisticated frivolities — because perceptions really do matter, and there is in Pakistan a national debate, of sorts, surrounding issues of corruption, accountability and transparency largely triggered by the Panama Papers case. As with poverty, also reported to have declined in a World Bank report recently, the country does not feel any less corrupt from the inside, and the 2-point improvement is hardly the stuff of headlines — but it is undeniably an improvement however small. Maintaining an upwards trajectory is now going to be the challenge, to advance another few points next year and again the year after that and so on. This can only be done by holding the institutions of state accountable, and in Pakistan that pressure for accountability and transparency comes largely from outside those institutions rather than from any internal zeal for reform. If ever such zeal takes root then we will have every reason to hold our heads high(er).

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2017.

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