According to Transparency International (TI), a recent report in a newspaper also indicated an allegation by a citizen that one, Rafiq Gopang of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal office, demanded from him a bribe of Rs200,000 for registration of purchase of his house. TI has written a letter addressed to the Sindh chief secretary on the matter.
In the letter, it says over one hundred properties are sold or purchased daily in each district, and on an average, Rs30,000 bribe is taken on each transaction, making the daily bribe intake for one office to be around Rs5 crore.
TI calls these serious accusations and calls upon the chief secretary to curb this illegal practice through which citizens of Karachi are blackmailed to pay annual bribes of Rs1.5 billion.
What is amusing about this report is that TI expects the chief secretary to take action. Officials in the Sindh government would rather get a transfer than take action against this practice, which fuels and feeds not just the likes of Gopang, who get a slice of the pie, but the high and mighty, who put him there in the first place.
Possibly, the most corrupt government machinery in Pakistan today is in Sindh, headed by a chief minister under whose leadership, the province stands at the brink of moral and financial bankruptcy.
The whole practice of bribing revenue officials starts with under-declaring the value of property and showing it to be almost 60 per cent of the actual market price. Thus, the levies imposed on such a property are significantly lower. In exchange, the revenue official also charges a levy of his own, which he shares with his superiors, in a chain that goes all the way to the top.
The practice is not restricted to Sindh. It is prevalent in most provinces, only that the highest evasion takes place in Karachi because this is where most properties are bought and sold. In the current arrangement, the only entity suffering is the government, which is deprived of billions of rupees in revenues.
The problem of corruption runs far deeper. We are a country where the government works only on the basis of bribery and corruption. Transfers, postings, appointments are made only after bribes are given. Contracts, payments and purchases are all done in the same manner. One can only wonder how long such a system can continue.
Possibly, the time has come to take a long and hard look at how government is run. Revenue collection may best be privatised, along with other government services and facilities.
In the past, the Bhutto government had tried to privatise customs tariff collection. But the powerful bureaucracy reacted violently and the whole affair was shown to be an attempt by the then government to award a contract under dubious circumstances. Every time we try to take away the powers of the bureaucracy, it reacts with a vengeance. But now we are hollow from within.
Maybe it’s time to take the bull by the horns. Let us start by privatising the FBR and the revenue function of the government. After setting targets, let us give the responsibility of tax collection to private contractors, the same way we give our contracts for toll and parking fees collection.
Initially, the high and mighty will try and bully their way into not paying as they do when they are asked to pay parking fees. But then, the noose can be tightened. Let us support tax raids and a survey of property on the same lines that the Musharraf government started in 1999, but was then forced to abandon.
Excise collection — be it collection from motorists in the form of motor vehicle licensing and other levies should also be privatised and taken away from the politicians. In Sindh, for example, the excise department collects little for the government and more for itself.
We can start raising revenues in small but decisive steps. The other challenge, of course, would be to spend the income wisely. This means no building of Rawind Mahal at state expense or hiring of near and dear ones to government positions.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (11)
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Corruption is an inborn human failing. The only way to counter this is to ensure strict, enforceable laws and punishments. In a country like Pakistan those entrusted with controlling corruption are themselves complicit, so it's a no win situation. Another disturbing aspect is the hypocrisy that goes with this and the distorted justifications given by the corrupt to those near to them..........perpetuating a sickness far worse than simple monetary corruption.
@Gp65: A bribe giver offers a bribe, merely to get preferential treatment over others in line. Whether he should receive favours or be denied in a day or year without the bribe, is secondary. Bribe taker can invent a thousand reasons why he should be paid a bribe, bribe giver is under no compulsion to comply.
@Feroz: Bribe giver is primarily at fault if the bribe is given to get something they would otherwise not be entitled to or to get somethingbout of turn. Even in that case, without a willing bribe taker who is willing to subvert the process for personal benefit, this would not work. But bribe taker is the only one who is guilty if they withold legitimate entitlement of someone (e.g pension, benefits to martyr's widow, issue of police clearance for a passport to a lborer who cannot join his employment without the clearance etc.
There is no denying fact that there is corruption also there is no denying that nothing changes during commandos times. Corruption will go down only with economic progress and that is strongly related to political stability.Now tell us who is not happy with political stability. Who has put democracy in doldrums despite magical performance in one year by NS .
Very good story by writer, will bring in the knowledge of high authorities, but the question is this, who is going to handle, this is not started now, it has been doing more then 30 years.. Nothing will be changed, never..
One corrupt person enforces/ inspires hundreds of others to do the same.
This is the same all over South Asia. When people are corrupt, corruption thrives. If nobody was willing to give a bribe there would be no corruption, is my take. Even in business the most corrupt have thrived. Those not willing to pay bribes would spend their lifetime making trips to Court, fending off all the cases that would have been foisted on them. Sad but true that whatever the compulsions, bribe giver is at fault.
Forget the unrealistic ideals of ending corruption. If any politician tells you that they will do it, then I will tell them that they are a liar.
Just get some intelligent, qualified people in the right positions who can run the country properly and we will overlook the corruption.
Corruption has infected each and every segment of the society and high-ups are too involved in this ugly practice.
Dear sir, why u did not propose that whole Sindh govt. should be privatized? Any discourse about corruption has to be honest which is lacking in your oped. When u say that this is because of Qaim Ali shah, this shows your twisted logic. 6 years ago when PP was not in power then there was no problem as person who was collecting money was not Gopang! They you mention in passing that this problem is not only in Sindh but at other places also. Then you mention that even our, the bravest commando, man so powerful that what he said was law, has to back down. Did he back down because of PP? Can PPP face same people where our might commando has back down from reforms? Certainly not. But there will be no op Ed if Mr. Gopang is replaced by Kamal Siddiqi likes! Regards
I am from Karachi and endorse every word of the article regarding the practice of under-pricing properties and paying government registrars under-hand certain percentage of the property value. I can surely say every registrar in Sindh Revenue Department is a Gopang. Government is losing millions in revenue every day on each sale or purchase of property in Karachi alone.Most of the registrars are from rural sindh and get jobs in ppp government in IT, Revenue, Customs etc just for the purpose of earning easy money.It is the people like us also to blame who collude with Gpoangs to save their money not thinking long term that the nation ultimately suffers in the form of poor health facilities, schools and roads.Please do not get me wrong that all Sindhi's are corrupt. Some may be honest, hard working and nice people. I am talking of the vast majority of them working in government departments.I am sure anybody who has to go to any government department in sindh can vouch for what I have written.