Experts call for better tools to measure corruption

Its extent is difficult to gauge because it is a clandestine activity, they say.

KARACHI: A war against corruption is a battle against a well-concealed enemy. Dr Taimur Rehman, an assistant professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, said that it is tricky to ascertain the extent of corruption since it is a clandestine activity.

At the second day of the international conference on corruption, Dr Rehman broke down one way to estimate its prevalence - the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which is published annually by Transparency International. It ranks countries according to the level of corruption perceived to be prevailing in them.

“In its most narrow definition of the unlawful activity, that is bribery, is the main form of corruption,” said Dr Rahman. He added that since the extent of corruption is not documented, it can only be estimated by using other factors, which are called ‘proxies’. One of them is people’s perception of its prevalence. But this is a broad category and may not necessarily reflect the actual extent of corruption. “The degree to which this proxy is correlated with the reality of corruption is mitigated by the political context of that particular country.” He added that some forms of corruption have become so deeply ingrained in the political order that people don’t perceive them as a menace. “The entire apparatus of the government [in Pakistan] remains insulated from public opinion as well as from public accountability.” Therefore, the perception of the extent of corruption may be a poor indicator of the actual levels.

Dr Shehryar Banuri, a behavioral economist, agreed with the fact that some of the current measures are a poor reflection of the extent of corruption. He said that analysing individual behaviour would be a better way to gauge level of corruptions than broad measures such as CPI.

Consolidating Banuri’s viewpoint, Prof. Ernesto Savona, who teaches criminology at an Italian university, said that it time to move beyond traditional ranking exercises. “In 20 years, we have measured, compared and produced unified instruments [of surveillance] but has [corruption] been eradicated?”

Dr Savona said that corruption should be measured in-depth in each country, instead of viewing it on the scale of larger geographic entities, such as continents.

Across the border

Dr Narendra Raj Paudel, a lecturer at the Tribhuvan University, Nepal, explained how the corruption index in Nepal has increased from 90 to 154 from 2004 to 2011. “In 22 years, there have been 22 Nepalese governments.” He added that the politicians, police and revenue officials are the most corrupt.

Dr Paudel said that many rules, acts and bills have been pushed to control corruption. But in reality, it is informal means which actually curb the ill. “The problem is the political agenda in Nepal. It is recognised as one of the chief causes of the country’s underdevelopment.”

Rashid Ahmine, a senior assistant at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mauritius, said, “There needs to be an independent body to fight the social evil of corruption with a comprehensive regime of offences and investigatory powers.”

Ahmine said that the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was setup in Mauritius in 2002 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. “During the last five years, ICAC has done a good job to educate the people and provide means of prevention and control [of corruption].”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd,  2012.