Administrative corruption is at the top of a laundry list of challenges facing Afghanistan. Despite receiving billions of dollars in aid from the international community, Afghanistan remains to be one of the most impoverished and underdeveloped nations in the world due to rampant corruption. Weak management and graft have deprived Afghan people of utilizing the existing opportunities for development and prosperity. As long as these two phenomena are not tackled, neither foreign aid nor domestic resources of revenue can enable Afghans to achieve self-sufficiency and self-reliance.
Although the National Unity Government claims to have made remarkable progress in the fight against corruption, the ground reality is totally the opposite. Speaking at a ceremony in Kabul on Sunday to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day, President Ashraf Ghani emphasized that his government has made significant achievements in the struggle against graft, adding that the pioneers of the anti-corruption efforts should be recognized. Surveys, however, show that the Ghani-led administration’s anti-corruption slogans have not been translated into actions, similar to that by the previous government. No actions have been taken so far to instill hopes in the people that the phenomenon will be eradicated. Concurrent with President Ghani’s claims, the Afghanistan Integrity Watch (IWA) has released its biennial survey, indicating that approximately 4.5 million Afghans have paid bribes to get their works done at government organizations last year. Since there are no accurate statistics, the figure may even be higher. The legal, judicial and educational institutions, according to the survey, have been identified as the most corrupt institutions.
It is a wonder that on what basis the president claims to have made tangible gains in the battle against corruption. Afghan people must still bribe government officials in order to get their legal things done in the government. Corruption is deeply entrenched in the government apparatus, making it hard for scrupulous individuals to serve in the government.
The president, who has already declared his intent to run for re-election in the upcoming presidential race, should acknowledge the failure of the government in the fight against corruption and try to take satisfactory actions to uproot the vicious phenomenon than make wild claims.
