Today Afghanistan is replete with dozens of paralyzing crisis, and “corruption” is of them that has become the main hurdle towards, stability, progress and the worst threat to peace and reconstruction process. It is not something new or strange to hear for the very first time, rather this crisis has been going on since our existence, but with worst every impact in Afghanistan.
Perhaps, there have been numbers of articles and editorials written on the growing rate of corruption and it’s worst ever consequences, but our government has never bothered much about this issue and its worst consequences on the poor class citizens to take measurements. Conceivably, this paralyzing crisis will build on our tears as long as humans are hungry in this state, corruption, violence, injustice and criminal acts against humanity will likely continue to proceed if convenient steps are not offered.
Today we forget to live with justice for the sake of some notes of backs. We forget the Islamic principles when it’s in our benefit and turn on the verses from the holy Quran as a reference when our status to our earnings is at risk! The freedom of desire to satisfy our inner starving, we have started killing one’s sole right and freedom in the society on the basis of bribery and other illegal ways of earnings.
In simple words, it is the destruction, ruining or spoiling the status of our society towards progress, peace and stability. A corrupt society never values integrity, virtue or moral principles. Corruption in our society has always been the main cause of backwardness and destruction. The best it grew, the worst it impacted the nation, particularly the poor class citizens who are power dominated. Corruption is not a new-borne disease; rather it is an age old phenomenon, not only in Afghanistan but throughout the world, but with worst ever consequences in our country.
According to report, selfishness and greed in Afghan government are the two main causes of corruption. The political corruption is the abuse of their powers by state officials for their unlawful private gains. As a result, the nexus of corrupt politicians, some company houses and builders, etc have systematically looted the system and the country at large while there has not been formal reaction against these perpetrators of the law and system.
Objectively speaking, corruption does exist in every country, but not to the extent that hits the Afghan nation, particularly the vulnerable and excluded citizens. The rule of the law is only applied on poor people and every misery hits them when they can’t afford to fulfill the demand of the government authorities on the basis of their jobs. What is so surprising is the depth and pervasiveness of corruption which is more than international horrible crises and has dominated us completely with so intensive repercussion. According to the Afghan economic specialist, each year millions of dollars go to corruption.
The funds and donors being raised from the international countries for reconstruction process of the country are gone into the packets of corrupt and power owning people and a very small amount of it has been spent for the right purposes.
As per the report, the current growing rate of corruption undermines the effectiveness and legitimacy of current government. This government is believed to be the most corrupt government in the world.
Normally, corruption always impacts the government first and then it begins to affect the whole society and this has all come from non-serious governance. Right from the top to bottom rules are flouted with impunity and the sense of loyalty for a stable region has died already. As a result, this leads to a free for all situations that further fuels corruption and this is the reason why it has seeped so deeply into our country’s departments. In the absence of poor governance, firefighting by ruling elite is the order of the day and is done on whatever comes in their vision.
The absence of accountability in government departments didn’t only lead to backwardness and further destructions, but has also led to terrorist actives role and strengthens their will for further destructions on the ground. Today the greed that supports corruption has visually shown up in other things. Despite numbers of dominated crisis today in the country, corruption is one of the main and long lasting problems which affected our political stability, our social welfare and even worsen our security situation and enlarged the enmity between the nations in particular.
The security situation is getting worse than we imagined. Inflation has risen much more than ever, bribery is getting higher than yesterday, if someone has problems and goes to the government related departments, the very first thing asked is how much shall the person pay to get his job done! On the other hand, the political stability has just stopped. What these all indicate is the weakness of the government; it means that the government has no power to fight the ongoing crisis or it doesn’t bother. And also it means that stability and progress will not set in Afghanistan unless the international community fully involve themselves in this process to root out corruption.
Perceiving the ground persistent dance of corruption in the country, one really wonders that how the great patriotic fighters who have been devotedly fighting corruption and injustice prepared the ground for these personalities living an extravagant lifestyle far removed from their constituency and who care no more for the betterment of their country and people .
Most of the analysts and scholars are in a view that almost all of us, perhaps most of us sometimes or others have been a victim of corruption in the last ten years, persistently. We regularly face an occasion where somebody either in airport, police station, government department, income tax offices, in the banks, or in almost every place, where we have to deal with an organization or government office, asks for a bribe to get our job done. If their demands are not fulfilled, one is supposed to go to their offices for two months and even more.
Often, the justification for giving a bribe is to speed up the process, since bureaucratic red tape causes long delay. Besides that bribes are given to avoid hassles since the laws and rules of our country, unfortunately, are such that government officials have an enormous power to harass and cause pain to ordinary citizens by making their lives so miserable.
Keeping in mind all the points and guilt, it worths to blame not only totally the government authorities or the officers of these organizations. Criticizing that they are the most responsible people but we have never pointed towards ourselves while corruption is a two-way street. If it is not encoded, I am sure it will not be decoded too. The accepter of the graft and its giver are both responsible for the growth of the corruption in the society. As individuals and citizens of this country, we are therefore equally responsible for this sorry state of affairs and making the ground harder for ourselves, particularly for the next generation who will curse us all of being the backbone of this country who set up corruption only and thought about the balance of their pockets.
Most of the things being discussed in this article are of those individuals who suffer from this crisis and remained the victims or truly care for the stability of this nation who want to live a simple, sustainable and holistic life.
Above all, currently the consequences of corruption for social and economic development are turning to become so harmful for the wellbeing of this nation and will likely affect outside the region. Corruption hinders economic growth and deters investment.
The impact of development assistance is reduced and natural resources are overexploited causing further harm to our country’s environmental assets. Resources are diverted from sectors such as education and health to less important sectors or personal enrichment. The rule of law is eroded and the people no longer respect or trust the state. A few people manage to get rich at the expense of society as a whole, while the poor suffer the worst with everlasting miseries. In the long run unchecked corruption pushes more and more people into poverty line which often destabilizes a society and excludes them from social, economic and political stability.
We can root out corruption by letting the state know that they have had enough of it. The authorities move very quickly when the individual and media or the television highlights instances of corruption. To root out this stigma, the spread of education, political, social and awareness are some factors that might help control the threat of corruption.