Bureaucratic Corruption In Pakistan

‘Bureaucratic corruption’ is a type of corruption that is rampant in many Asian countries. The term refers to, “corrupt acts of appointed bureaucrats in their dealings with either their superiors (the political elites) or with the public” (10). Thus, bureaucratic corruption is undertaken by appointed administrators who have the power to implement government policies. Essentially, these public administrators grant privileges to private individuals in exchange for bribes in cash or kind. Usually, such corruption is rampant in countries where the “political elite does not properly control this apparatus” (10). This essay consists of three sections. Section one talks about the major causes of bureaucratic corruption in general, namely, i) weak

This lack of commitment is reflected in the lack of adequate anti-corruption laws and agencies. Even when such laws and agencies are formulated, they suffer from poor budgets and untrained personnel which prevents these anticorruption laws from being enforced impartially. This lack of will is a result of the corruption benefiting the leaders directly and therefore, they are unwilling to, “kill the goose that lays the golden eggs” (22). In various developing countries, the entire apparatus of the state is aimed towards extracting public resources and enriching the fortunes of the top officials. However, bureaucratic corruption tends to benefit leaders and occurs on a greater scale in certain politically unstable weak states. There is a general ambiguity regarding that state’s mission and the role of the public offices and institutions in weak states. In most cases, such states are characterized by i) reliance on external factors for internal growth and development, ii) overcentralized governments with little or no opportunity for local deliberation and participation, and iii) politicization of the bureaucracy

Accordingly, they created PSC’s in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, and Singapore. The PSC’s duties were to appoint, confirm, and promote public officers and these were strictly undertaken keeping the principle of meritocracy in mind. ‘Meritocracy’ refers to selecting civil servants purely by merit. There should be no appointments based on patronage networks or nepotism (378). One of the main ways of recruiting talented citizens to the Singapore Civil Service (SCS) is by offering generous undergraduate scholarships—to study both at Singaporean universities and prestigious ones abroad—to students who score excellent results in high school. After graduation, these scholars are ‘bonded’ to serve the SCS for a certain period (378). Former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has often attributed Singapore’s success to a government and administration that is exceptionally able to perform its duties since only those who can do the best job are recruited. Accordingly, unlike other Asian countries such as Indonesia and India, Singaporean citizens can never become bureaucrats based on customs like gift-giving or cronyism. The PSC lays down a code of conduct for public officers who have to exhibit high standards of behavior based on principles of transparency, integrity, and incorruptibility. In the Global