Problem korupcji we współczesnym świecie - The Problem of Corruption in the Contemporary World

'Corruption is inevitable,' says Antoni Kaminski, who is in charge of the newly created Polish section of the association "Transparency International". Poland has no reason to be proud; according to the score of the so-called observable corruption, calculated by this organisation, Poland ranks 44th out of 99 countries.

Nowadays one can buy everything: from travelling without a ticket on a train, a driving licence, secondary school leaving certificate, and passing borders without going through customs to blocking a parlamentary bill. Corruption is a common practice and one can notice it everywhere. Large-scale corruption regularly makes the headlines but no one ever gets punished. As a result, people have resigned from treating small-time corruption as a bad thing to do. The World Bank report prepared on request from the Polish governement shows that about 200 policemen are sanctioned every year for having taken bribes on the road. I am sure that it is a drop in the ocean.

It may seem that corruption is a phenomenon of today. But actually it has existed for a long time. The first man who took a bribe was Judas. He received money for betraying Jesus Christ.

But it depends on us whether we want corruption to disappear or not. We must be aware of the fact that we can do a lot about it. We cannot give any bribes if we want to be honest.

Moreover different attempts have been made to reduce corruption. In Poland the voivodships of Warsaw and Silesia have set up "anti-corruption" telephone lines. This action led to 600 calls in Silesia which reported on corruption of which only three or four led to direct enquiries and investigation.. Maybe it is a good way to break the wall of silence. Yet it can be regarded as an encouragement to denunciation. But on the other hand can one break the law? I think that the answer is clear-cut.

In conclusion I would like to say that if we want to live in a country where corruption is at most a marginal phenomenon, we must do something to prevent it from spreading.

[Arkadiusz Szymczak]