say no to corruption

                                    Say no to corruption

   To our surprise, corruption has sold our conscientiousness; we have become blind to see in our surroundings the people who are straying without clothes, living without shelter and dying in starvation. Every day, hundreds of poor roam into the streets to find remnant food. The current report of poverty is that one in three Pakistanis live below the poverty line. Of these, 74% live on less than US$2 a day and 17% live on less than US$1.25 a day. Our people have lost a hope to live better life due to endemic disease of corruption. If we do not cure this disease now then it shall devour us completely. It is high time to say no to corruption and eradicate poverty from our society. Corruption is root cause to all evils. If we say no to corruption then it means we say no to poverty. If this issue is procrastinated upon, we will sternly suffer for next one hundred years.

Development is and will undoubtedly be the instinctive aspiration of any society, and sustainable development is and will remain the top objective of plans and strategies designed by any responsible government. Co-existence of the consolidated rule of law, well-structured economic life and functional democracy extended to all areas of social activity is undoubtedly the main guarantee for the realization of this aspiration. This coexistence must be defended unceasingly, with the same love, will and strength that a responsible parent protects the child from any threats to his physical and psycho-emotional wellbeing. But to protect something, you must first have it. At what phase is Albania today: at a phase that should protect what it is, or at the stage of creation of what it must in principle protect? It looks like a pun, but is actually a rhetorical question. My answer goes without a doubt to the second alternative. Unfortunately, my country does not enjoy today the coexistence of the three abovementioned elements and, in my view, it is mainly due to the phenomenon of corruption. Arben is a poor Math student who graduates only thanks to paying some professors and is employed as a teacher at a secondary school. So, it is assumed that he will teach the Math concepts to Olti, a 15-year old who dreams to be an engineer. But three years of high school pass quickly and without quality teaching, Olti loses confidence in math and poor performance in thus subject prevents him from pursuing his studies in engineering. Demoralisation of the boy is inevitable. Corruption successfully managed to break a young boy’s dream. Unfortunately, this has happened and continues to happen in Albania.

On the other hand, a citizen trying to solve a certain problem has to come with the barriers raised unfairly against him by judges and other officials of the corrupt justice system; undoubtedly he becomes demoralized and loses faith in the so-called " rule of law "and probably starts preparing himself to win his rights in the future through a more “trendy” and effective weapon: corruption. Corruption is now injected into the citizen as the best problem-solving approach, as the only way to render justice in an unjust justice system. One more citizen "infected" with the virus of corruption. Too bad… Corruption weakens the foundations of the rule of law, economic life and the fragile democracy of our country and feeds on a wide range of areas such as education, health, politics, sports, etc., but its worst effect is causing demoralization and hopelessness. In my view, lack of hope is the most frustrating element hampering the efforts of a society to move forward.