Corruption could spread without strong opposition: Eigen

Peter Eigen, the founder of Transparency International, has observed that it is very difficult for a government alone to fight corruption and expressed apprehension that absence of a strong opposition in parliament could lead to widespread corruption. Talking to New Age in a city hotel, Eigen, also the initiator of Garment Industries Transparency Initiative, on Friday said that opposition parties were extremely important for fight against corruption unless they were also corrupt. Asked to comment on Bangladesh’s current situation where an opposition, which exists in name only, was sharing power with the government after a one-sided election, Peter said the local chapter of the Transparency International should better make an assessment. without participation of main opposition parties and ongoing widespread plundering of public bank money Corruption in Bangladesh remains alarming, according to Transparency International which ranked Bangladesh 16th from the bottom, among 177 countries, in the global corruption index for the year 2013.

Eigen, however, said that generally if there was a strong parliamentary control that was not totally controlled by executive branch, he though the government would be much more careful about allowing corruption. Pointing to nexus of governing and opposition parties in some other countries, Eigen said, ‘There are some countries where opposition and governing parties are equally corrupt as it was seen in Greece. In last decade, both the parties were involved in corruption.’ ‘If the opposition parties are strong enough,  very often the executive branch offers them opportunities to make fortune in order to keep them quiet and it happened to some extend in Nigeria where the parties in the South are governing for quite some time and allowing the Northern parties to steal oil in order to keep the country together.’ Professor Eigen, a lawyer by training, who worked in the field of economic development for 25 years, mainly with the World Bank in Africa and Latin America, underscored social movement for fight against corruption.

‘You can successfully fight against corruption if you have the pressure for good governance from the bottom and attempts from the top to change the system,  because only then you can strengthen the court, strengthen the procurement rule and strengthen other aspects of the integrated system,’ he added. ‘It is very difficult for the government alone to fight corruption. This is what is happening now in China. The president is extremely tough on corruption, but rest of the society is not cooperating. To me it is very important – society, civil society support and demand for fight against corruption,’ he added. Eigen, also the initiator of Garment Industries Transparency Initiative that was launched in August 2013 with an aim to find a way for an agreement between the stakeholders with regard to labour conditions, called for working together to improve working conditions of labourers and their wages.

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