Perception does not grow out of thin air

An EU-wide survey showing that the overwhelming majority of Maltese respondents believe that corruption is a major problem is unlikely to ruffle the feathers of most politicians, who, as in the past, are likely to dismiss the outcome of the survey as mere perception. In fact, the most worrying part of the survey is not that showing which institutions are the most corrupt but the finding that, to the majority of Maltese people, corruption is unavoidable and a fact of life.

Eighty-three per cent said corruption always existed and could not be eradicated. Such an attitude speaks volumes and indicates too the mammoth task involved in checking corruption.

Dismissing the survey results as mere perception will not do because perception does not grow out of thin air. There is usually a basis for it. If the perception of corruption in Nordic countries is low, it is because the degree of corruption in those countries is generally low. So, politicians who choose to disregard such survey results on grounds that they are simply born out of mere impression may be fooling themselves.

Is corruption unavoidable? It is not and the state ought always to do its best to check it. This may sound a truism but it is not either because, often enough, it is surprising how long administrations take to bring into force rules and regulations to check corruption.

However, even more important than rules and regulations, is a strong will to eradicate corruption for without a will such rules and regulations will only be observed in the breach.

Quite shockingly, 88 per cent of respondents to the EU survey think that corruption is a major problem in Malta, cutting across all main institutions, from national to local level. This is 14 per cent higher than the EU average.

Top on the list of institutions, or sectors, believed to be most corrupt are the planning authority, politicians and the judiciary.

The very deep wound suffered by the judiciary in the bribery case involving a former Chief Justice and a judge some years ago will take long to heal. The case had, quite understandably, shocked the nation to the core.

Greater attention in the appointment of members to the bench of judges than that shown so far and more efficiency in the handling of the workload may go a long way towards improving the judiciary’s standing. So will the avoidance, at all costs, of any behaviour that might be considered inappropriate.

The perception of corruption at the planning authority may have decreased but the percentage given in the survey, 52 per cent, is still very, very worrying. The measures taken to improve greater transparency will, hopefully, bring down the percentage even further.

Very worrying too is the finding that corruption is also prevalent among politicians. Few politicians are held in very high esteem. Excessive partisanship and, sometimes, even scurrility have put away from politics people who would have otherwise been able to give major contributions to social or economic development.

Yet, somewhat strangely, the politicians themselves do not appear to have taken the finding about corruption among their class seriously or, maybe, they do not give much weight to perception either. However, they should, both in their own interest and in that of the country.

It does no good to Malta’s image to have an EU survey showing that 88 per cent of respondents believe that corruption is also prevalent among politicians.