Views

Hope dies last; corruption will have to die before

This year we have been witnesses of intensive anti-corruption activities, as well as different, sometimes diametrically opposed comments which come after. Depending on the political orientation or sympathising, the attitudes move from complete approval to complete disapproval, but one thing is sure – there is hardly anyone to remain indifferent to what is going on in the country. Lances have been breaking for a long time – is it all justified, is it a political squaring of accounts or marketing, will it last enough long, is there a conception on what is done, if...

All such questions and dilemmas are legitimate, but they do not decrease the need for fight against corruption in this country, so that it could be respected by its own citizens and accepted as a serious international entity. One of the most relevant assumptions concerning this is finally and once forever to establish law governance, so it is necessary to apply the legal regulations non-selectively and objectively on anyone who has broken them.

That is why two things are of essential importance – firstly, if the procedures for corruptive criminal acts are run in accordance with the legal regulations, and secondly, are they equally applied on all the citizens known to have broken the law. It just has to be respected so that the country can oppose the whirl of corruption which has been pushing it to the bottom of the list of more successful ones than us for almost a decade.

The fight against corruption does not have a chance to succeed if not based on a harmonised system of well-considered measures which have to be implemented persistently, mercilessly and professionally. The system for corruption prevention and repression has to provide co-ordination of the complex relations between the legal and sub-legal acts, state organs activities, prosecutor’s office and courts. Laws will have to be of quality, modern, applicable and in accordance with the international regulation from the area of anti-corruption. State organs, prosecutor’s office and courts will have to be professional, independent, expert and protected from influence from the political parties. Only a system like this will be able to be activated independently and non-selectively always when there is information on corruption behaviour and to process the procedures well. Spiteful people will say that it is easier to propose and comment, but it is very difficult to carry it out, and they will be right.

However, two things are certain – sooner we start this process, faster we will finish it and if we do not do it, this country will never get rid of the corruption. That is why we need a well-considered, quality and applicable anti-corruption strategy, which will forecast and put in accordance the measures necessary for creating such system. The strategy will have to be supported by a program for its implementation and will need to contain concrete terms for implementation, carriers of the obligations and necessary resources.

The state commission for corruption prevention, in co-operation with home and foreign experts, has prepared a quality, well-considered and applicable anti-corruption strategy. A great step ahead has been made – finally there is a clear program for creating a system which will be able to eradicate corruption more effectively. The political factor is on move and it should study the strategy well, regardless of the fact if it is currently in power or in opposition, to strive for unreserved implementation of everything that could prevent corruption. If there is a lack of political will to implement the strategy, we will miss the most favourable chance to eradicate corruption and the same old stories from the last decade will repeat.

Firstly, we will always react after the damage has been done, that is; we will be forced to heal, not to prevent. Secondly, we will always depend on the political parties’ will (or, more precisely, on their leaders’ will) for preventing the corruption, which, not to be deceived, does not have to be lasting forever. Thirdly, the fight against the corruption will have conditions for selection and amplitudes in its quality and intensity.

In such conditions, the corruption experts will soon start to adjust the conditions and will apply partisans’ tactics – they will hide during the offensive, they will wait for it to finish, and then everything will start from the very beginning. The worst consequence is a complete loss of the widely present and hardly created hope that citizens have – that in this country there will be law governance. If it is true that the hope dies last, for our own good, first we will have to dispatch corruption.