Blog Prompt
Q: You are the newly appointed Director of the Corruptive Practices Investigative Unit. Write a 350-word speech to be delivered at a ministerial meeting where you describe the three main actions your team will be taking to stamp out corruption in your country.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I am the Director of the Corruptive Practices Investigative Unit and I am here to deliver a speech about the three main actions my team will be taking to stamp out corruption in the country.

In order to stamp out corruption, we need to understand it thoroughly. As most of you know, corruption is very hard to be fully eradicated because it is human nature to choose one's one well being above the general well being. It is also human nature to look away, when one sees some body's mistakes or corrupt acts, if that person is a friend, or the relative/friend of a good friend or somebody one respects or fears. Because of this human nature, corruption is often hard to stamp out.

So how are we going to stop corruption? My team has discussed and came out with a few solutions to this.

The first main action is to stop clientelism and "job for friends/supporters-only" policy in government. Professionalism of the public administration is key. To work as a public servant in a ministry or other government agency has to be a career choice and should not be interrupted nor interfered by the political cycles (i.e. changing presidents/parties). Implementing meritocracy in the public service is a way to motivate professional public servants to do a good job in order to advance in their careers. At the same time, we would also urge the government to invest in improving the quality of Public Management/ Public Administration schools in order to increase the potential of the public servants to be.

The second main action is to reconstruct the public service so that there are more checks and balances. Every body's work should be controlled by another agency or department that is not conflicting with its interests. The transparency will be increased: where does each dollar go to? What is done with public funding? How are decisions made? All this information should be collected and reported and should be available for outsiders and controlling agencies.

The third and the last main action is to enforce the judicial system so that officials, no matter what their range or status is, get the punishment that they deserve, if caught doing something wrong.

I hope that by carrying out these actions that I proposed, the country would be a less corruptive one where there are very little or no corruption. Thank you.