Daily Times

Mr Imran Khan has made his fight against ‘corruption’ the centrepiece of his political campaign. For all practical purposes, the only form of corruption he is willing to target directly and most vocally is that personified by President Asif Ali Zardari and Mr Nawaz Sharif. It is, however, a simple reality that even if both of these individuals disappear from the scene as of today, corruption in its different forms will still be a major problem for this country. There is, however, one form of corruption that Imran Khan can challenge effectively if he really wants to and that is what we might call ‘political’ corruption.

Money, as is often said, is the ‘mother’s milk’ of politics. Without money, political parties cannot organise and individual candidates cannot effectively contest elections. Financial support and contributions to political parties and candidates is a major problem in the US and many efforts have been made to control these contributions. The most important regulation that controls the process somewhat is that all political contributions must be declared. If any donations are not reported or are not used for election purposes, then that is a crime which, if detected, is vigorously prosecuted.

In Pakistan, political campaigns and the financial contributions to candidates are completely unregulated. An election for an urban seat in the National Assembly (NA) can evidently cost upwards of Rs 50 million. This money is almost always put up by the candidate or close family members, political allies or business supporters. Once a candidate wins, this major financial investment has to be recouped. And this is the most basic reason for what might be called ‘political corruption’.

Winning candidates expect to use their position to land lucrative deals for themselves directly but more often through ‘silent partners’ and their financial supporters expect similar treatment. Appointments in government offices and public enterprises for family members and cronies are not even considered corruption! And if a candidate lands a ministerial position, then the coffers of governmental largesse become available to be pillaged at will. This is not a problem limited to any particular party but is a general malaise that afflicts all politicians with a few exceptions. If the winning politicians choose not to benefit personally, their family members, supporters and ‘investors’ in their election campaigns feel free to take full advantage of the situation.

Even under the best scenario, some cronyism and nepotism will continue but a considerable ‘dent’ can be made in this entire system of ‘payback’ for financial support if all financial contributions to political candidates are declared and monitored. Another important restraining factor will be if a major portion of the financial support for candidates comes from the party rather than the candidates themselves. If in time ‘declared’ donations and party support become the mainstay of election expenses then two things will happen. First, the candidates will become more dependent on party support and as such even the ‘not so rich’ candidates will have a chance to contest and possibly win an election. This will eventually end the present stranglehold of the ‘influentials’ (read rich) on the political process. And at the same time if the source of financial support for a candidate is known then any ‘payback’ to a financial donor can be monitored and exposed by the press.

The question then is how to finance election campaigns without forcing individual candidates to put up the money. Of course donations from outside sources will have to be allowed but these, as I have said above, must be monitored. Also if the party can fund the campaigns to a considerable degree, that will lessen the burden on individual candidates. To make this possible, the party and in this case the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) should take the lead and set an example. Imran Khan is a prodigious fundraiser as has been demonstrated by his ability to raise money for his cancer hospital. Surely he can raise a lot of money from individual donors for his party, the caveat of course being that all these donations should be listed by name above a certain cut-off point and declared. For starters, Imran Khan should also declare for the benefit of the public where the financial support came from for his Minto Park rally in October.

More importantly, based upon my discussions with individuals who have sympathy for the PTI, it seems that many corporate bosses as well as independently wealthy people would like to support the party. Not necessarily for what they expect in return but because they think that this party can provide a better future for the country. Major financial donations from such individuals and corporate entities should be welcomed by the PTI on the condition that all of them are declared to the public. Already there are rumours swirling around that many ‘influentials’ have made major financial offers and contributions in return for party ‘tickets’. These donations must also be declared and be made a part of the public record.

Many people will object to the idea of corporate sponsorship of the political process as well as dependence on major private donors but these are already a fact of life and the best that can be done is to regularise and make such donations public. If the PTI can start this tradition, it will indeed greatly help to clean up the political system and at the same time make it possible for ordinary party workers, middle class candidates as well as professionals to participate in the electoral process.

Finally, an apology. Last week in my ‘Thanksgiving’ article, I enumerated different groups of ordinary people that deserve our thanks for working selflessly to keep this country running. Inadvertently I missed mentioning one of the most important groups of hard working people, the teachers, especially the teachers in thousands of our public schools in small towns and villages who work in what at best can be called ‘challenging’ circumstances. Thank you all.

The writer has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com