The World Is Corrupted Still!
Today is 9 December 2008. The global Convention against Corruption can help restore battered confidence in international financial markets, but only if bankers and leaders respect its principles. Corruption destroys jobs, productivity and markets in the developed world and robs the very poorest of development aid. On December 10 the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Aum Naten Zangmo said everybody must change culturally and behaviorally to uphold the notion of zero tolerance to corruption in country. It must be made risky and costly to corrupt people. She appealed the governments of the world to observe the International Anti-Corruption Day.
Definition: It is the act or process of corrupting and also the state of being corrupt or decay; rot. Other meanings are bestiality, depravity, flagitiousness, immorality, perversion, turpitude, vice, villainous ness, villainy, wickedness, corruptness, dishonesty, improbity, barbarism, solecism or vulgarism. The World Bank defined as "the extent to which power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as 'capture' of the state by elites and private interests."
Information: Corruption affects the lives of people at all levels. It hampers the achievement of the national and Millennium Development Goals. Everybody must take part in preventing corruption. We must organize marathon to fight against corruption. The least corrupt ten countries in 2007 were Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, Iceland, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and Noeway. The most corrupt nine countries were Somalia, Myanmar, Iraq, Haiti, Uzbekistan, Tonga, Sudan, Chad, and Afganistan. In the U.S., the top five most corrupt states are Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, and Ohio. In the USA there are the worst financially corrupt politicians. 3 out of 4 EU citizens considered corruption. The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the right time. Let us not forget that corruption is a crime. Despite being considered as a victimless crime, corruption does not come for free. Its costs are borne by the entire society, by every organization that tolerates it. The bribing costs to secure contracts are usually "invoiced" later and it is the ordinary citizen who pays the bill". No country or institution is immune from corruption. No country effectively implemented the existing anti-corruption instruments.
Political Corruption: The old axiom is power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Corruption means the abuse of a public office for personal gain or other illegal or immoral benefit. Political corruption is a recognized criminal offense. Examples are, bribery, extortion, and embezzlement. These are in office. Some forms of corruption may escape legal notice, such as the hiring of relatives for key positions, but they may not escape the scrutiny of voters on Election Day. Whenever a person accepts a political appointment or wins election to an office, he or she must take an oath to uphold the public trust. While this may sound noble on paper, enforcement of this oath can prove problematic. Very few political candidates successfully reach office without making a few promises along the way. Many of these campaign promises are harmless, such as sponsoring a bill or lobbying for more funding for schools. Other promises, however, may come closer to crossing an ethical line, such as hiring relatives or awarding government contracts to influential contributors. Almost all of these countries' political representatives were from the wealthier class, which inevitably led to a division between the influential haves and the virtually powerless have-nots. The seeds of political corruption were planted as soon as the senators and other political leaders realized that power and wealth could be equals. Political corruption often begins with favoritism towards those with wealth and influence. It is nowadays a cancer. It may always remain a concern for democratic governments, but there are a number of independent checks and balances that can root out corruption before it affects the integrity of the political body as a whole. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption of bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption facilitates criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to these organized crime activities. In some nations, corruption is so common that it is expected when ordinary businesses or citizens interact with government officials. The end point of political corruption is a kleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves". The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. Certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some countries, government officials have broad or poorly defined powers, and the line between what is legal and illegal can be difficult to draw. Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion (£494bn), and the burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty.
Effects on politics, administration, and institutions: Corruption poses a serious development challenge. In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the unfair provision of services. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance.
Economic effects: Corruption also undermines economic development by generating considerable distortions and inefficiency. In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting red tape, the availability of bribes can also induce officials to contrive new rules and delays. Openly removing costly and lengthy regulations are better than covertly allowing them to be bypassed by using bribes. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it also distorts the playing field, shielding firms with connections from competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms. Corruption also generates economic distortions in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave way for such dealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on government. In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999.
Environmental and social effects: Corruption facilitates environmental destruction. Even the corrupt countries may formally have legislation to protect the environment, it cannot be enforced if the officials can be easily bribed. The same applies to social rights such as worker protection, unionization and prevention of child labor. Violation of these laws and rights enables corrupt countries to gain an illegitimate economic advantage in the international market. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has observed that "there is no such thing as an apolitical food problem." While drought and other naturally occurring events may trigger famine conditions, it is government action or inaction that determines its severity, and often even whether or not a famine will occur. Governments with strong tendencies towards kleptocracy can undermine food security even when harvests are good. The 20th century is full of many examples of governments undermining the food security of their own nations – sometimes intentionally.
Causes: Areas with high religious attendance tend to have higher rates of corruption, due to the possible cultural aspects from that religion. For example Islamic nations, and the Bible Belt in the US have high rates of corruption. A gift economy, such as the Chinese guanxi or the Soviet blat system, emerges in a Communist centrally planned economy. In societies where personal integrity is rated as less important than other characteristics. Long-time work in the same position may create relationships inside and outside the government which encourage and help conceal corruption and favoritism. Rotating government officials to different positions and geographic areas may help prevent this. Weak rule of law, weak legal profession, weak judicial independence, lack of protection of whistleblowers, lack of benchmarking, lack of government transparency, lack of freedom of information legislation, weak accounting practices, lack of measurement of corruption and lacking control over and accountability of the government are main causes.
Election: Campaign contributions in the political arena is difficult to prove corruption. Politicians are placed in apparently compromising positions because of their need to solicit financial contributions for their campaign finance. If they then appear to be acting in the interests of those parties that funded them, this gives rise to talk of political corruption. The United States require that all contributions and their use should be publicly disclosed. Many big companies fund both the Democratic and Republican parties. France ban altogether the corporate funding of political parties. In some countries, political parties are run solely off membership fees. An individual voter may have a rational ignorance regarding politics, especially in nationwide elections, since each vote has little weight. Costly political campaigns, with expenses exceeding normal sources of political funding. Less interaction with officials reduces the opportunities for corruption. For example, using the Internet for sending in required information, like applications and tax forms, and then processing this with automated computer systems.
Conclusion: Individuals must have firm intention not to pay corruption at all levels in a coherent way. There must be Anti Corruption Commission in every country aiming at protecting the financial interests, ensuring that corrupt public officials can be investigated and prosecuted. The principles of integrity and sound financial management must guide the relations of between countries. Bilateral agreements concerning provisions of development aid must include today as a standard anti-corruption clauses. In order to improve the exchange of best practices, a network at international level must be set up.
Thank you all.
God bless the world without corruption!!!
Dr Robert Renatus SanabamPresident,
ifop 
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