CORRUPTION COSTS COMMUNITY DEARLY
THE dizzying heights of increased bribery, corruption, and misconduct across corporations, government and at an individual level continue to rise with little regard for understanding the wrongdoing.
The year has been littered with cases of political and institutional misbehaviour, the past few weeks alone have culminated in Malta’s prime minister stepping down after sending the country into turmoil over a cover up for a journalist’s murder, the President of the United States is heading towards impeachment over misconduct and obstruction, and the news that Australia’s anti moneylaundering regulator has accused Westpac of breaching the law on 23 million occasions points to the prospect that powerful members of corporate Australia are still behaving badly.
Regulators are struggling to find the right balance between pursuing wrongdoers through the courts – an admittedly costly, time-consuming and highly risky business – and finding other means to punish and deter misconduct.
Sadly, corruption is one of the most widespread and least punished crimes.
The World Bank has estimated that the amount paid in bribes worldwide is some USD 1.8 trillion which compares to a world GDP of USD 55 trillion.
The World Bank considers corruption a major challenge to its twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity for the poorest 40 per cent of people in developing countries.
Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice. Think, for example, of the effect of counterfeit drugs or vaccinations on the health outcomes of children and the lifelong impacts that may have on them.
Which begs the question, where did our education system encourage this type of behaviour – or is it because ethics, integrity and good moral conduct have disappeared from our code of conduct and has become acceptable for humans to treat each other and society in such a way – with total disregard for any moral compass. For a long time, bribery or corruption has been considered as a necessary evil, a way to do business in many countries – an ingredient of the social order for centuries.
Worldwide, confidence in governments has fallen dramatically over the last few decades. Estrangement from the political process, already at very high levels, has increased rapidly.
The only real and lasting way to end corruption has to start with the individual, and be aligned with the community and institutions that they serve.