Preventing Corruption
Tuesday saw the monthly open meeting of the International Business Council, (IBC). This onbe was sponsored by the OSCE, (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), office in Bishkek and was entitled “Fighting Corruption: Importance of Preventive Measures”.
As well as opening speeches from the Chairman of IBC, the Ambassador of the OSCE to Kyrgyzstan and the Vice Speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh, (the parliament), there was a short film about how the topic was being tackled in Russia and Georgia, presentations by the General Secretary of the Anticorruption Business Council, one of the deputies from the parliament and the President of the Association of Suppliers of Kyrgyzstan, followed by a general discussion.
It is common here for eyes to turn to the regional superpower, Russia, to see how they tackle questions. Apart from the years of domination from Moscow under Russian rule as part of the Tsarist Empire and seventy years of the Soviet Union, Moscow exercises a lot of influence over events in the region, both directly and indirectly. The attention given to Georgia was interesting, however. Judging from what I see and hear, there is a sense of infatuation with Georgia amongst some of the “free marketers” here in Kyrgyzstan. Georgia is often quoted as an example when it comes to discussing the visa regime. In this case, however, there is an interesting comparison in that when the two countries were first featured in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, in 2003, they both scored about the same response, but in the latest Index, Georgia had improved its rating by almost 100 place: It holds the 68th place in the rankings, similar to that of Italy, whereas Kyrgyzstan still languishes at 16thh (out of 178).
There has been a lot of attention over the years to the question of corruption in Kyrgyzstan, and the OSCE has hosted a number of initiatives to raise and tackle the issue. In a way that is not surprising. The perception is that Corruption is a part of everyday life in Kyrgyzstan, from the “bribes” paid to traffic police to overlook speeding offences to kickbacks when tendering for a contract and payments to officials in order to obtain licenses and other permissions.
Corruption, of course, is about a lot more than just the payment of bribes. It covers all sorts of abuses of power like nepotism and raising false invoices as well.
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Several of the speakers pointed out that there are two ways of approaching the problem: Prevention and Punishment. The stress of the meeting was on prevention rather than punishment. As the OSCE ambassador put it, “prevention is more effective”. The deputy commented that “punishment isn’t working, there have been practically no prosecutions for corruption”, and he said that only two cases had been pursued in recent time. Even a Police Colonel, (I think he said he said he was a colonel), said that no-one believes that there is a fight against corruption in Kyrgyzstan.
It’s a bit like old adage about medical treatment: “Prevention is better than cure”. It is preferable to avoid the problem than to have to take remedial action once it has occurred.
There were several suggestions of measures that could be implemented in order to deter corrupt practice ranging from setting up an anti corruption council to changing the system of account keeping and utilizing electronic submission of documents for things like customs clearance, (removing the human factor, the “chelovechiskiy factor”, by limiting contact between officials and business), thereby making certain procedures more transparent and automatic.
Having said that, it was also noted that punishment does have a role to play. Part of the rationale behind any form of punishment is to exact retribution, but there is also an element of deterrence. The threat of punishment can deter people from doing something. That, of course relies on the risk of being caught being more than just incidental, and the cost of the punishment outweighing the benefits accrued from the action in the first place. And there are obviously some benefits … as the Deputy Minister for Economic Regulation pointed out, businessmen go along with corrupt practices because it has some advantages for them.
As was pointed out by some of the speakers, apparently, the chance of discovery is not that great, and it is not clear that the Mikado’s formula of making “the punishment fit the crime” is working, either.
One of the successes of the recently introduced hot line at just two of the customs points, (at Manas Airport and the main border crossing with Kazakhstan), where people can report incidents is that it has led to 5 cases being opened and 4 dismissals of customs officials.
So far, according to the OSCE ambassador, despite all the reports and discussion, there seems to have been little progress made. He asked how could progress be achieved and suggested two particular influences that needed to be brought to bear: Leadership and Peer Pressure.
Several speakers mentioned the need to instill a sense of ethical responsibility … it needs to be generally accepted amongst the population as a whole that it corruption is unacceptable. This means more than just lip service paid to the general principle, but a sea change in attitudes. It needs, for example, to be seen as unacceptable to give a bribe as it is to accept one.
Legislation, rules and regulations may well act as a deterrent, but their effectiveness in tackling the problem are reliant upon detection and punishment, and there is always the If, on the other hand, it is generally acknowledged that certain things are “beyond the pale” and this is internalized and becomes a principle of doing business and conducting one’s life, then it is less likely to be breached. This, however, will take time and relies on upbringing and education. That’s where leadership, example and peer pressure come in.
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All through the meeting, however, one thought kept occurring to me … in the meantime the answer may well be to, as in the slogan for the anti-drugs campaign, “Just say No”.
If only it were that simple.
Bishkek