The extreme ongoing root of corruption and violence in our society and in the world at large is not something new or strange to hear for the very first time. Perhaps this crisis has been going on since our existence. Indeed, as long as humans are hungry on this planet, corruption, violence and destruction will surly continue to proceed.
Today the freedom of desire to satisfy inner starving, people have started killing one's right and freedom in the society on the basis of bribery and other illegal approaches. In other words, it is the destruction, ruining or the spoiling of a society or a nation. A corrupt society stops valuing integrity, virtue or moral principles. It changes for the worse. Such a society begins to decay and sets itself on the road to self destruction. Corruption is an age old phenomenon not only in Afghanistan but in the world at large. Selfishness and greed are the two main causes of corruption. Political corruption is the abuse of their powers by state officials for their unlawful private gains. As a result, in the same way the nexus of corrupt politicians, some corporate houses, builders etc. has systematically looted the system and the country.
Sadly, corruption even exists in the so-called developed countries at high levels but not as high as it is in Afghanistan. What is so surprising currently in Afghanistan is the depth and pervasiveness of corruption which is more than international horrible crisis today and has dominated us completely with so intensive repercussion. According to the Afghan economic specialist, each year million of dollars go to corruption. The funds and donors being brought from the international countries for reconstructing the country are gone into corruption that a very small amount of it has been spent for the desiring purposes.
As always, the very first target or casualty of corruption is the government itself and then it slowly starts to affect the whole society. One can very confidently say that today most of the problems surrounding us and our country have come from non-serious governance. Right from the top to bottom rules are flouted with impunity. This also 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.
Lack of good governance perhaps leads to terrorism active role and strengthens their will for further destructions on the ground also and this will obviously affect the financial health of the country and sets a direct bearing on corporate Afghanistan. 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 and our social welfare and even worsen our security situation and enlarge the enmity between the nations in particular.
Watching the very persistent dance of the corruption in our society, one really wonders that how the great patriotic fighters who have been devotedly fighting corruption and injustice prepared the ground for the unhealthily personalities living an extravagant lifestyle far removed from their constituency and who care no more for the betterment of their country and people. We see 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 which is getting healthier. And also it means that stability and progress will not set in Afghanistan unless the international community fully involve themselves in the process.
This is the daily crisis we practically experience in the country and very obviously, each one of us exactly is fully aware of these facts. In fact, this transformation did not happen overnight but is the ultimate result of the slow and steady deterioration of public life and hence the cancer of corruption has spread very deeply into the fabric of our country. Thanks to today's modern technologies, like mobile phones, twitter, internet, face-book, and many other reliable information source that let us know of today's disgraceful problems which begin within the government itself. Indeed, today's continuous root of corruption has created a critical mass of anger and frustration and hence the general outcry that you presently hear.
I strongly believe that almost all of us, perhaps most of us sometimes or others have been a victim of corruption. 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 so that we could be able to get our job done.
Often, the justification for giving a bribe is to expedite 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.
More importantly, it doesn't mean to completely blame the government authorities or the officers of these organizations only, criticizing that they are the most responsible people but we have never pointed towards ourselves while corruption is a two-way street. The accepter of the graft and its giver are both responsible for the growth of the corruption. 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.
Most of the things that I have discussed in the article and will discuss today have come from my own personal experiences of trying to live a simple, sustainable and holistic life in Kabul city.
I believe that the whole purpose of our existence is to increase personal and societal infrastructure. Personal infrastructure includes personal health, happiness and general well being. By improving our personal "infrastructure" we become better human beings and it helps in our emotional growth and evolution. By giving back something to the society so that its "infrastructure" increases we help in mankind's evolution. Both these activities when carried out simultaneously can give us a great joy and satisfaction.
Above all, today, the consequences of corruption for social and economic development are turning to become so harmful. Corruption hinders economic growth and deters investment. The impact of development assistance is reduced and natural resources are overexploited causing further harm to a 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 terribly. In the long run unchecked corruption pushes more and more people into poverty which often destabilizes a society.
Societies can fight corruption by letting the state know that they have had enough of it. The authorities move very quickly when the press or the television highlights instances of corruption. Education spreads political and social awareness and these are some factors that help curb the menace of corruption from our society.