Wednesday, 28 July 2010 03:39
THE PENINSULA
Conditions of corruption referred to by reports on the political, economic, and social environment in the Arab world do not bode well. They raise many fears and concerns about the present and the future, which are liable to explode at any moment spontaneously, like a fiery volcano erupting without warning and shooting lava in everyone’s faces without exception. The difference is that the situation has knowingly become a growing one and intractable to solution. It is as though we, in the Arab world, knew the cancer existed, but it is unresponsive to painkillers. The situation will explode sooner or later, but we do not know when, where, or how, and which Arab country will be destroyed by the disaster first.
A report prepared by Al Ahram Center of the Political and Strategic Studies in collaboration with Oxfam rang alarm bells once again, especially since it comes from a historical Arab location in the region. The report indicates that although there are a set of laws and agencies fighting corruption, the problem of corruption is still one of the most dangerous phenomena in various Arab countries. Not only that, but corruption is a phenomenon no longer confined to specific economic sectors, services, or levels. It ranges from the involvement of junior staff to the involvement of ministers and board members and boards of electoral and parliamentary bodies.
As for the causes of the spreading corruption, the report states that they are mainly the absence of regulatory laws, dominance of the executive branch over political life, weakness of the legislature and the growing trend of interplay between money and power. This is especially the case after the entry of a significant number of players in the business arena into political action: gaining access to membership of various electoral boards and going on to use membership privileges for economic and financial privileges outside of the existing laws. The majority of Arab countries suffer from political corruption and the influence of money on ballot boxes, thus affecting the electoral process, forging a gap between the ruler and the ruled, and creating a weakened state that has lost its ability to resolve problems.
Is the Arab world alone plagued by bribery and corruption? The answer is: of course not. Corruption and abuse also exist in the western and eastern countries. The difference is that the latter two contain processes to reveal, expose, prosecute and eradicate the problem. Participating in these processes are political and economic parties as well as the media and parliamentary elections, which act as a security barrier. These processes protect western and eastern communities from slipping and falling into the abyss, as is happening in many Arab countries. Sometime ago, the British press launched an information campaign on Tony Blair, the former British prime minister. More specifically, the cost borne by British taxpayers, reaching a quarter of a million pounds per year, due to the security guards accompanying Blair, who spends most of his time abroad for his work. His security team consists of five bodyguards from a protection unit in the British police that is responsible for providing armed protection for ministers and government officials and visiting foreign dignitaries. The team is backed by protection from police officers. They accompanied Blair on more than 21 international flights during the first four months of 2010 to destinations including Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Liberia, China, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States.
This campaign resulted in Attorney Richard Bacon for the Conservative Party, participant in the coalition government and a member of the parliamentary committee on public accounts, saying that it was time for former British prime ministers to contribute to the hefty costs of protecting them by paying from some of their huge accumulation of profits. This was at a time when the government announced a dramatic reduction in public spending. He also noted that former British prime minister Tony Blair had hidden £20m that he allegedly earned by facilitating tasks of international oil companies in Iraq after the occupation in 2003. In addition, the newspaper, Daily Mail, noted in a report that the former prime minister Blair concealed accepting £1m in exchange for consulting several GCC sheikhs on his efforts in the occupation of Iraq, which was described by observers at the time as” bribery “ in recognition of his efforts in the occupation of Iraq. The paper also described the secret deals which Blair fell into under the “revolving door policy” to gain illegal occupation of Iraq, forgetting the previously announced rationale of saving the world from weapons of mass destruction allegedly possessed by Iraq. The newspaper highlighted the amounts received by Blair as envoy to the Middle East, through his participation in dinner parties, consultations provided by banks, foreign governments, as well as salaries and benefits he obtained as a former prime minister. The newspaper accused Blair of building a complex network of shell companies that allowed him to avoid publication of detailed accounts of the funds he collected. The MP Douglas Carswell described Blair’s dealings as “foul”, stating that he acted poorly and greedily. The paper, Mail on Sunday, revealed that Blair, as a result of exploiting his influence, received about £90,000 to visit a methanol production plant in Azerbaijan owned by a wealthy resident businessman with interests in Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan. The newspaper pointed out that the commercial interest of former British prime minister Blair, who has built a fortune estimated at £15m since his resignation from his post in June 2007, were subject to the scrutiny of the people and the lower house of parliament. Here lies the vast difference in the application of the principles of transparency, responsibility and accountability between this part of the world and that one.
It is said the remnants of a board left over from the Indian civilisation of about 300 BC had the following words written upon it: “It is impossible for a man not to taste honey or poison that is spread on his tongue, and therefore it is also impossible for those administering governmental funds not to taste the wealth of the king if only a little bit”.
In the Arab world, all seem to be trying to come to power just for a taste of the king’s wealth, yet in infinite amounts.
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