India’s Chief Economic Advisor, Mr. Kaushik Basu, makes a case on how to fight bribery. The concept is interesting, but how effective is it going to be? In countries like Tanzania, where bribery is also a problem, can Bashu’s concept be applicable, and be effective? Or will people still manage to find ways kuichakachua?
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That’s really interesing; have the bribe taker pay the fine, and let the bribe giver go free.
There is one caveat that is mentioned in the video: “If they are caught”. The way I see things, bribes are not identified even today in Tanzania, so how can we concieve of a time when people will not only know about bribes, but that bribe takers would be caught and fined?
Don’t people give bribes because they are avoiding something on the public scene anyway?
Talking about bribery and corruption, have you guys seen the PCCB report:
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Tanzania+police+top+corruption+list/-/2558/1163886/-/djxaal/-/index.html
@SN That’s crazy – judiciary and education sector come in 2nd and 3rd place respectively on most corrupt institutions. I would have liked to see how they measured these though…
I think the Chinese have the right idea on this, death penalty should always be on the table especially for big corruption that usually affect generations.
Also we can learn a lot from Rwanda, we need is a serious leader to show that he/she does not tolerate corruption. This can go a long way for a society that has a weak education system. Unfortunately our present leader does not satisfy this criteria you can not point fingers when you have your hands on the cookie jar.
To fight bribery and corruption, maybe the battle should start from the nursery to higher education, the next generation might. Serious fines and jail terms might deter the culprits though.
But Tz is still in political evolution, do we think really we might succeed on our time? I beg to differ…
Some other comments that came in from a wallpost about this on Facebook:
“what happens when the enforcers take bribes?”
“india’s had a corrupt government all throughout it’s history, and they think this idiotic approach would work? how will this bring any change or provide any protection to the civilians who are forced to pay these bribes under threats? will gov’t officials automatically start working and treating common people ethically? not a chance!”
“When there’s enough development and the government can afford to pay a real salary to its public servants, only then will a country enforce anti corruption laws that make the cost of accepting one create a loss of a job that actually pays well and would make you think twice about accepting it in the first place.”
“nope.. the bribe amounts will just get higher because the concept of bribery will have been so engrained in the society by then…”
“Bribes happen everywhere. Yes in Tanzania it falls at a petty level, but what Americans call lobbying is pretty much conceptually the same thing. I think it’s more profitable to formalize such transactions within their current structure.”
I saw this a couple of weeks ago, I’ve always thought the best way to fight corruption and bribery at least in the public sector level is to pay your civil servants a good price with decent insurance and health care. Call me naive but if the police back in Tanzania had a decent salary, good health benefits and subsidies so that their kids can be sent to school they would definitely be stopping you on the road and giving you a ticket (since we all don’t know what the speed limit in Dar is) instead of asking for some chai or present.
This may not be an answer but it could be a start, if some countries emulate Ghana’s encouragement of brining back their young and educated to work for the government or even better start up a business and also follow Singapore’s ridiculous but effective rules and regulations on corruption, we could see some decent development and fight bribery and corruption effectively.
Public servants that are well paid may be more invested in helping the country and they will not have any reason to be corrupted. Well paid police back home may even mitigate crime perhaps.
Does this method applies to “ufisadi” as well or is only limited to bribery?