Poorest of the world are doomed to remain poor. What else would you expect if the apex body in the world continuously fails to deal with problems in its own administrative structure? That World Bank has been haunted with the evil of corruption since forever has been known for a while. However, recent report of the Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity (INT) brings out some damned facts that just necessitate an answer by those in charge. The classified Detailed Implementation Review prepared by INT highlights such poor usage of funds that Robert Zoellick has had to come out and claim that WB had joined forces with
the Indian government to fight fraud and corruption in that country’s health structure.
The chief of INT, Suzanne Rich Folsom, has however coughed up to the facts and resigned from her position. This is bound to soothe some of the people gunning for her throat in the aftermath of such an embarrassing report. The only prior report that highlighted prevalent corruption to such a great degree was Paul Volcker’s investigation of the U.N. Oil for Food scandal.
INT’s report, yet to be made public, claims that out of $569 million invested in India’s health sector, nearly 90% is wasted; gobbled up by corrupt officials and crooked companies. All the five main projects viz. the Food and Drug Capacity Building Project, the Second National AIDS Control Project, the Malaria Control Project, the Tuberculosis Control Project, and the Orissa Health Systems Development Project, had dismal implementation results on ground.
WB would have been saved the embarrassment had corrupt Indian administrative machinery or the local companies carried out the scams. Unfortunately, the truth is that the WB officials themselves have been guilty of turning a blind eye towards any instance of misdemeanor. For instance in the AIDS Control Project, the bank appeared to pay scant attention to the performance and quality of the goods supplied to the blood banks and testing centers, instead focusing on the number of such facilities being erected. These facts are yet another stain on WB’s credibility, which has taken a serious beating in recent times. Wolfowitz (Zoellick’s predecessor), despite his shortcomings, had made fighting corruption as his top priority. Robert
Zoellick’s limited tenure in the office is yet to demonstrate a tough stand against this pandemic. Whosoever takes over Folsom’s position must act quickly to stop the rot. Till then the hand downs from rich nations would rarely find their way to those at lowest rung of the ladder.