The naked eye cannot observe termites eating away a wooden frame. But sooner or later we all find out what’s left of the wood. Corruption and lack of transparency & information has the same effect on democracy; you can’t see how exactly the process of corruption gnaws away the spirit and body of both the society and the economy until the damage becomes too visible to ignore.
The story of corruption in Pakistan is no different; the damage has become too big to ignore. The good thing, though, is that there is growing realization to fix the problem. Whether that realization is enough to cause a change is another question. But between now and the next election there may be some opportunities to build a momentum towards at least controlling the termite, since killing it will always be an elusive dream.
One of those opportunities may be provided by the ongoing project by the CIPE and the SDPI, who have joined hands to help (and perhaps nudge) political parties towards developing detailed economic manifestos. That’s a good initiative but one whose success may depend on the strength of support they can get by the likes of the PBC, the FPCCI and leading chambers from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
This column recognizes the fact that it’s up to the political parties which particular policy or law they would chose. But at the least the parties should be nudged to include two elements in their manifestos for the upcoming elections: provincial manifestos, and anti-corruption.
The former is necessary because following the devolution the fate of millions of Pakistanis is now tied with the provincial capital rather than Islamabad. It includes key areas like water and sanitation, housing, health and education.
The latter is necessary because corruption must be controlled before the wooden framework of democracy crumbles. To that end four broad areas ought to be included in the draft economic manifesto CIPE-SDPI are working on. The first of these revolves around anti-graft laws at federal and provincial level to act as a check-and-balance framework to control economic corruption. These include the likes of RTI, anti-bribery act, whistle-blowing act, and AML. Some of these laws already exist and need to be implemented; some need to be fixed before implemented; whereas others have to be rolled out from scratch.
This theme should also include reforms to be brought about in banking courts, whereas economic/commerce courts also need to be set up having all the key elements of a good legal system. Both the regulators and members of economic courts must meet the standard of political impartiality and judicial propriety. (See BR Research column columns: The Fourteen Points of Charter of Economy, May 30, 2017)
The second revolves around data and transparency. Government’s statistical bodies need to be strengthened – both at federal and provincial level – with adequate measures put in place for periodic dissemination of data. The reason why stakeholders comment and critique on areas like the FDI, credit, inflation, and trade is because basic level of data is released periodically in each of these categories.
Third, revolves around documentation. The vice of corruption at micro level socio-economic transactions cannot be put to an end overnight. The dark underbelly of economic vice in which ill-gotten monies grow is too big to be controlled. But through proper documentation such as in Pakistan’s homegrown Panama: the real estate sector, the flow of money in corruption economy can be checked and culprits put to task.
Lastly, there should be campaigns of various forms and at various levels to develop and inculcate a habit of what the famous Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang calls “active economic citizenship”. Every citizen may not be an economic expert to be an “active economic citizen”. We don’t need to understand all the technical details, just as we don’t need to be a micro-biologist to ensure that hygiene standards are met at food factories and restaurants.
To this end some efforts by the third sector have started to become visible. Karachi-based T2F Café is often found holding open-for-public discussion forums; the Karachi Literature Festival has started featuring sessions on economic governance; former planning head Nadeem Ul-Haq has been doing podcast; the Lahore-based CDPR has also been trying to reach out to a wider audience by means of public seminars and blogs.
No one in this world lives in the best of possible ideal worlds; but that doesn’t mean we stop trying. “We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen”. In the modern society the concept of man has been largely reduced to an economic entity; in such a society without active economic citizenship the living will only be drifting toward becoming the living dead or, in the least worst option, economic slaves of the modern world.
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