Lowering of Pakistan score by one doesn't reflect increase or decrease in corruption: TIP

The TIP chairman has praised efforts of the incumbent government in curbing corruption.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) Chairman Sohail Muzaffar has issued a clarification statement on the lowering of Pakistan’s score by one point on the Corruption Perceptions Index 2019, and stated that TV channels, newspapers and a number of politicians had “misreported the CPI report and given false figures trying to damage the reputation of Pakistan” and nowhere in the report it was mentioned that “corruption has increased in Pakistan”.

“Lowering of Pakistan Score by one does not reflect any increase or decrease in Corruption as it is within the standard margin of error which is 2.46% , and is the case of score lowered from 88 to 87 for Denmark, which is least corrupt country in 2018 as well as 2019,” the press release issued by the TIP chairman clarified.

Following are the clarifications on misreporting on CPI 2019 in media:

1. “Out of 8 sources used in Pakistan CPI, data of 2016/17 is used by Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index 2020 Code: BF(TI) lower score by 3, and data of 2015/2016/2017 is used by Rule of Law Index 2019 lower score by 2, and that 6 other Sources scores are same as in 2018. Reality is that Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index 2020 data is not made public, and will be declared in 2020, and only provided to TI for CPI purpose, media report has quoted data of CPI 2018. Rule of Law data was collected between May and November 2018, and RLI 2018 used data was collected between May and December 2017. In fact BTI score is lower by 4.12 and not 3, and RoL Index score is lower by 2.4 and not 2. And the scores of other 6 sources used in CPI are all different form 2018, scores of 3 sources ( WB, PRS,EIU )are increased and in 2 sources ( VDP, WEF,GICR) the scores are reduced.”

2. “One leader said in media that CPI 2019 has rated the governments of President Musharraf as most corrupt, of Imran Khan 2nd most corrupt and of PMLN as cleanest and PPP as 2nd cleanest, and TI/TI-Pakistan has engineered CPI 2019. Reality is that CPI 2019 has not given any such rating for Pakistan, nor for any other country. TI does not have its own data input in CPI, and TI Pakistan has not role in making of CPI, nor has any data input in it.”

The press release further clarifies on how CPI is prepared by Transparency International in Germany, and what data is used in CPI as:

1. CPI do not include any data of any survey conducted by Transparency International.

2. CPI is compiled by Transparency International at Berlin and TI-Pakistan has no role in preparation of CPI.

3. CPI aggregates data from 13 different sources of 12 different institutions that provide perception of corruption by business people and country experts of the level of corruption in public sector.

4. Each of Scores of the 13 sources included in the CPI is standardised by TI and data is entered in a software, to calculate for the aggregation into the CPI score. The standardisation converts all the data points to a scale of 0- 100 where a 0 represents the highest level of perceived corruption, and 100 the lowest level of perceived corruption,

5. CPI 2019 for Pakistan has used data of eight sources.

The TIP chairman has also praised efforts of the incumbent government in curbing corruption with an acknowledgement that the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) overall performance has improved in the tenure of the ruling party.

Earlier, the day the report was released, the Transparency International Secretariat explained that many countries have not performed well this year.

Many developed countries including Canada, France, United Kingdom and Denmark have scored less than last year, though Denmark attained the first rank on CPI 2019.

Mr Muzaffar had said that the NAB under its present chairman has performed much better, and NAB was rejuvenated after it took various initiatives, including adopting the combined investigation team (CIT) system, in order to have collective wisdom in the conduct of inquiries or investigations on merit. NAB has collected Rs153 billion from corrupt elements and filed 530 references and its overall conviction ratio in the accountability courts is about 70 per cent, the statement had noted.

Pakistan’s ranking dropped to 120 out of 180 countries with a score of 32 out of 100, according to the annual CPI for 2019 released by the Transparency International.

In the previous report, Pakistan scored 33 out of 100, which implies that no improvement could be observed in terms of eradication of corruption from the state. Last year, Pakistan’s ranking stood at 117, same as in 2017, although it’s score had slightly increased to 33.

The CPI uses a scale from 0 to 100, in which 100 is very clean and 0 is highly corrupt. Shockingly, two-third of 180 countries have scored below 50, whereas the average score is 43 out of 100.

The Transparency International further outlined recommendations “to end corruption and restore trust in politics” and stated “it is imperative to prevent opportunities for political corruption and to foster the integrity of political systems.”

The recommendations include:

a) Governments should reduce the risk of undue influence in policy-making by tightening controls over financial and other interests of government officials. Governments should also address “revolving doors”, establish cooling-off periods for former officials and ensure rules are properly enforced and sanctioned.

b) In order to prevent excessive money and influence in politics, governments should improve and properly enforce campaign finance regulations. Political parties should also disclose their sources of income, assets and loans, and governments should empower oversight agencies with stronger mandates and appropriate resources.

c) For democracy to be effective against corruption, governments must ensure that elections are free and fair. Preventing and sanctioning vote-buying and misinformation campaigns are essential to rebuilding trust in government and ensuring that citizens can use their vote to punish corrupt politicians.

d) Governments should promote open and meaningful access to decision-making and consult a wider range of groups, beyond well-resourced lobbyists and a few private interests. Lobbying activities should be public and easily accessible.

e) Governments should create mechanisms to ensure that service delivery and public resource allocation are not driven by personal connections or are biased towards special interest groups at the expense of the overall public good.

f) Governments should protect civil liberties and political rights, including freedom of speech, expression and association. Governments should engage civil society and protect citizens, activists, whistleblowers and journalists in monitoring and exposing corruption.

g) Governments must promote the separation of powers, strengthen judicial independence and preserve checks and balances.

Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair of anti-corruption NGO Transparency International, affirmed that the “Governments must urgently address the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on our political systems.”

Analysis shows that countries that perform well on the CPI also have stronger enforcement of campaign finance regulations and broader range of political consultation, a press release issued by Transparency International Pakistan had said.

Countries where campaign finance regulations are comprehensive and systematically enforced have an average score of 70 on the CPI, whereas countries where such regulations either don’t exist or are poorly enforced score an average of just 34 and 35, respectively.

“The lack of real progress against corruption in most countries is disappointing and has profound negative effects on citizens around the world,” said Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of Transparency International.

“To have any chance of ending corruption and improving peoples’ lives, we must tackle the relationship between politics and big money. All citizens must be represented in decision making.”

Countries in which elections and political party financing are open to undue influence from vested interests are less able to combat corruption, the analysis of the results finds.

The research shows several of the most advanced economies cannot afford to be complacent if they are to keep up their anti-corruption momentum. Four G7 countries score lower than last year: Canada (-4), France (-3), the UK (-3) and the US (-2). Germany and Japan have seen no improvement, while Italy gained one point.

The Corruption Perceptions Index – an index published annually by Transparency International since 1995 – ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.