The police and the judiciary are perceived as the most corrupt institutions in Pakistan, according to a recent survey conducted by Transparency International (TI) Pakistan.
Released on Wednesday, the National Corruption Perception Survey 2021 revealed that most Pakistanis considered police as the most corrupt sector (41.4 percent), followed by the judiciary (17.4 percent) and contracting or tendering (10.3 percent).
A large number of people (51.9 percent) cited weak accountability as the main reason behind corruption in the country. The greed of powerful people (29.3 percent) and low salaries (18.8 percent) were the other key reasons mentioned.
TI Pakistan has conducted National Corruption Perception Surveys five times in the last 20 years: NCPS 2002, NCPS 2006, NCPS 2009, NCPS 2010, and 2011.
“This year, TI Pakistan conducted the National Corruption Perception Survey 2021 in all four provinces between 14 October 2021 and 27 October 2021. The survey reflects the perception of the general public on very important governance issues,” the organization stated in a press release.
According to the survey, contracts of roads topped (59.8 percent) the list of public services for which people paid bribes. It was followed by cleanliness and garbage collection (13.8 percent), access to water (13.3 percent), and drainage system (13.1 percent).
When asked regarding measures to reduce corruption, 41 percent of Pakistanis suggested stricter punishments, 34.6 percent called for accountability of public officers by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), whereas 25.3 percent said a complete ban on those convicted of corruption from holding public office could reduce corruption.
“A significant [part of the] population (81.4pc) has declined that they willingly pay a bribe and likewise, it was a clear perception that bribes are rather extorted from the public through tactics such as inaction or delay in the provision of public services,” the survey report added.
