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Turn on any TV channel, tune into a radio program, pick up a newspaper or log into social media; all you will be drawn into are news, reports and predictions on the situation of coronavirus, consequences, estimated percentages of those who will fall as victims, number of diagnosed patients or the victims who has lost their lives. Although, frequent and a high number of reporting on coronavirus helps people take care and precautionary measures, but it also simultaneously diminishes attention to other issues. These include responsibilities that the state and private sector, even the media itself, hold regarding the realities of our society such as that of corruption. Bearing in mind that testing times, such as that of the coronavirus epidemic may open windows of opportunity for the corrupt; who can safely and conveniently abuse public resources and benefit from lack of public attention.
Corruption, in simple terms means dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power. It is much beyond and more complicated than bribery whilst analysts thus far and the anti-corruption instrument of the UN Convention against Corruption have not fully agreed on the definition of corruption. According to Leslie Holmes in the book of Corruption: A Very Short Introduction, two definitions have been predominantly used for the most part of this century: firstly “the abuse of public office for private gain”; secondly “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.
In countries where the public sectors are assessed to be highly corrupt, disasters such as that which persist now creates and are used as facilitating opportunities to abuse more of what belongs to the public. Thereby, resulting in poor suffering significantly more from the devastating effects of not only corruption but the coronavirus crisis, as well.
Moreover, because of the less-developed medical, education and economic infrastructure which is not an unusual consequence of corruption, the people suffer more than their counterparts in other countries with less percentage of corruption. An example is comparing Japan and Haiti.
Pinkerton (a risk management assessment institute) compares two cases of earthquake in Japan (1995) and Haiti (2010). The intensity of earthquakes was almost the same (Japan on 7.2 and Haiti on 7.0 richter scale) but the casualties were extremely diverse. In Japan 5,297 people lost their lives; while, in Haiti 222,570 people. How could earthquakes of similar magnitude damage Japan and Haiti differently? There are many reasons however; one indicator which appears strongly is difference in economic development, financial standing of the two countries and their diverse GDPs. Pinkerton emphasizes on an important factor; corruption as can be seen in the ranking of Japan in index of Transparency International is 20/180 while Haiti’s ranking stands at 168/180.
In countries where the public sectors are assessed to be highly corrupt, disasters such as that which persist now creates and are used as facilitating opportunities to abuse more of what belongs to the public
Regarding the crisis situation of coronavirus the same explanation may be applied in the context of countries which are seen to have corruption rampant. Corruption can worsen the consequences of this fatal epidemic. Arrival of coronavirus relief funds can create opportunities for corruption for governments and other powerful institutions, which have an active role or relationship with the political systems. Corruption can intensify damages of coronavirus through lack of or poor corresponding reaction of governments at local and federal levels in the initial phase of the epidemic, ineffective application of funds, and hiding true information from the public claiming security issue or protection of the country’s reputation in the international arena. .
Coronavirus to a large extent has shaped various aspects of our lives, including health, workability and especially impacted social contacts and connections. Nevertheless, media has to attract attention and open opportunities of dialogue about other issues, in this crucial time, as well. The corruption is one of those issues. It threatens not only sustainable economic development, ethical values and justice; but also destabilizes our communities and endangers the rule of law and democracy. The media must, as a result, reminds that good governance is not a luxury wish, it is a need and it is the right of people to be informed how competent, honest and transparent their government is.
Fatemeh Kamali-Chirani has a PhD in Political Science and works as Visiting Research Fellow of SDPI, contact: [email protected] [1] Sana Malik is Research Associate at SDPI, contact: [email protected]