One form of art which has successfully, over
the years, masqueraded itself as a science, is the analysis of societal and
economic data. Without doubt, the
collection and collation of such data, when done in a methodological manner,
tritely qualifies to be titled as science. The magic and artistry however comes
into play in the interpretation and use to which scientifically sourced data is
put.
In the hands of the masters of the art,
social and economic data can virtually be transformed into whatsoever the
entity paying the bill wants the data transformed into. Crafty Statisticians
will usually ask their bosses: 'what do you want us to make of this data'?
Developments in the areas of presentation skills, audio-visual equipments and
technologies and information dissemination protocols have conveniently placed
entire humanity at the behest of this art form. Listening to smart
statisticians describe dire social and economic situations in superlative
lexicon, one may feel an urge to throw caution to the winds in wild ecstasy,
only to be brought back to reality when you depart the venues of such presentations and are faced with palpable lack and rot in the surrounding society and population.
States routinely rely on analysis of data on
social and economic issues to formulate national policies on such diverse
matters as international investments, bilateral trade and even military
strategies; at the individual level, our everyday decisions and actions have been, consciously or
otherwise, infiltrated and teleguided by 'expert' opinions preferred by these analysts.
One group of internationally renowned
socio-economic data analysts who have for long excited my intellect is the
group which has a quite grandiose name: Transparency International (TI). TI has
for over a decade established itself as an international authority on
corruption and transparency in governance issues and with its immense outreach
across the globe, facilitated by the presence of diverse affiliate
organizations in several countries, amassed access to empirical
social and economic data on different climes.
As stated earlier, the data collection is,
in most cases, scientific. It will take some discernment to appreciate the inherent
artistry:
TI's flagship contribution to international
discourse is its annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Often times, the ‘P’
('perception') is conveniently omitted in the mindset of users of the index,
thus creating the impression that the said CPI is ordinarily viewed as the
worlds Corruption Index (CI) - revealing the standing of countries in a global
corruption hierarchy. TI's CPI has attained the level of a global reference
point and is often cited by the United Nations and its agencies, regional
multinational institutions (AU, ASEAN, EU, OAS and so on), domestic State
authorities, opposition elements and civil society organizations variously to
buttress the level of corruption in the States which fare poorly in the index.
Are the countries which rank poorly in TI's
CPI really the most corrupt in the world? Or could the reverse the case?
Corruption is always a two-way traffic.
There is usually the giver and taker (in the case of bribes); the deprived and
the depository/recipient (in the case of expropriated loot); the victim and the
thief and several other permutations which captures the harm posed by corrupt practices.
The armada of data collected by TI towards arriving at its CPI is simply overwhelming. The countries which rank poorly in
the CPI are usually the victim-States of corrupt practices, the territories
whose rulers loot with unrivaled frenzy, the States where bribery and
corruption seem to be woven into the societal fabric and where the citizenry
live, breath and die under the pangs of corrupt practices. But are these
countries really the most corrupt or do they simply suffer most from corruption
and corrupt practices? Are the States which fare well in TI's CPI merely insulated from the pangs of corruption by virtue of the fact that they only serve as beneficiaries of the corruption and corrupt practices of other countries?
Are there other facts which could be inferred from the data available to TI? A closer look at TI's social and economic data base will divulge interesting revelations usually not announced by the CPI annual reports. Where do proceeds of
corruptly sourced funds disappear into? Which States or territories benefit
most from global corrupt practices? Does benefitting from corruption/corrupt
practices not make a State corrupt? Would the ranking of countries in TI's CPI
be reversed or revolutionized if the quantum of loot each State receives is
factored into the compilation and evaluation process? Would States/territories like
Switzerland, Luxemburg, Cayman Islands, The Isles of Man and other havens for
global loot suddenly have a reversal of positions with States/territories like
Afghanistan, Haiti, Nigeria and several others, mostly belonging to the Low and
Middle Income Country category, whose rulers endlessly cart out entire budgets
to foreign bank vaults?
TI's CPI, it must be emphatically stated, has done quite a lot to bring
awareness of corruption to the global arena. Global abhorrence for and efforts
at tackling corruption will no doubt be enhanced if a real corruption index was
extrapolated from the mountain of data available to TI and the several other entities
interested in tackling corruption and not merely the 'perception' being
disseminated. Tackling the corruption cancer requires efforts of both the
victims and the beneficiaries; both the givers and takers; both the deprived
and depositories of loot.
When the receiver-State declines to receive, declines to allow their
banking facilities to serve as depositories for loot, large-scale corruption
will become near extinct.
It can be done.
Picture: © Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2012
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