So how much corruption can people handle before they call for a change?
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to create social movements that will lead to the reduction and eradication of corruption in Bangladesh. Recently, TIB conducted a survey among Bangladesh’s parliamentary members, revealing a dark side to this important part of government.
The TIB surveyed 149 sitting Members of Parliament (MP’s) and reported that “70% of the member’s surveyed were engaged in “criminal activities”. Criminal activities included murder, manipulation of tender, and “land and river grabbing”. In fact, 53.5% of the MP’s were directly involved in criminal activities and only 24% of them were sued by their victims. Also, of the members surveyed, 97% of them were involved in “negative activities”, which included inadequate use of government funds, influencing government activities, and involvement or support of criminal activities.
Of the Parliamentary Members that were surveyed, 141 are male and only eight are female. However, the survey does not reveal the names of these members.
On a more positive note, the survey also revealed that 53.7% were involved in “positive activities” outside of parliament which included active roles in the health, education and agriculture sectors, and encouraging the empowerment of women.
While some opposition members of Parliament feel the TIB survey is accurate, other members from the ruling Awami League state that the survey was not done in a scientific manner, and that it is a, “…national and international conspiracy against the country’s democracy”.
Go To:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=253840
http://ti-bangladesh.org/index.php/site-map/introduction
Well, acceptance of e.g. bribes is nothing unusual even in Western “civilized” countries, even at the highest levels of the executive or legislative branches. But to see such a report alleging outright murder as a pastime of parliamentarians and nothing being done about it is rather crass.