The scourge of corruption

Pakistan is in the grip of mega corruption since 1988 covering the period of the two democratic governments of late Benazir and Nawaz Sharif. The Transparency International Corruption's Perception Index 2008, has rated Pakistan 134th in corruption among 180 countries.
According to TI report of 1999, Pakistan stood at No. 87 among the corrupt countries while in 2005 it jumped to 144 among 158 countries.
The TI report issued in 2007 said that the 2005 index bears witness to the double burden of poverty and corruption borne by the world's least developed countries. Corruption was a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier in overcoming these two scourges. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if foreign aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty.
The mix of money and politics continues to be recipe for corruption in countries both rich and poor, and yet, some nations have shown that, even with limited resources, political will and strong leadership can prove effective in addressing governance challenges.
Among the country specific findings, the report points out that Russia has made little progress in establishing and enforcing effective anti-corruption mechanisms compared to several other Soviet Union successor states. Pakistan is rated just above Russia followed by Senegal, Serbia and Zimbabwe.
Extensive research shows that foreign investment is lower in countries perceived to be corrupt, which further thwarts their chance to prosper. When countries improve governance and reduce corruption, they reap a "development dividend" that, according to the World Bank Institute, can include improved child mortality rates, higher per capita income and greater literacy. Corruption isn't a natural disaster: it is a cold, calculated theft of opportunity from the men, women and children who are least able to protect themselves. Leaders must go beyond lip service and make good on their promises to provide the commitment and resources to improve governance, transparency and accountability.
The Transparency International report says wealth is not a prerequisite for successful control of corruption. New long-term analysis of the CPI shows that the perception of corruption has decreased significantly in lower-income countries such as Estonia, Columbia and Bulgaria over the past decade. In the case of higher income countries such as Canada and Ireland, however, there has been a marked increase in the perception of corruption over the past ten years, showing that even wealthy countries must work to maintain a climate of integrity.