Corruption in Cambodia. It happens. Bribes, graft, theft, influence peddling, intimidation ... all of the above and more. International adoptions from Cambodia have been stopped for folks in the US for coming up to five years because of corruption.

This year's Global Corruption Report focused on the health sector closely, as "unfortunately, corruption is very high" in that area of national expenditure, and estimates that more than five percent of Cambodia's health budget is lost to corruption before it even leaves the central government.

(The 2007 report will focus on corruption in judicial systems.)

Interestingly, however, this ravaged country isn't alone.

Today corruption is everywhere, at its most rampant among the developing countries ... it can range from billions of dollars siphoned to clandestine Swiss accounts by kleptocratic political elites to the peanuts paid to local public officals ... but not limited to the "Third World".

On a global level, corruption now costs about five per cent of global economy -- or more than US$ 1.5 trillion a year. That's a lot of money. Imagine what $ 1.5 trillion could be doing ...

Every year the world spends more than US$ 3.0 trillion on health services. In the United States, which spends about 15.3 per cent of its GDP on healthcare, the two largest public health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid, estimate that 5.0-10 per cent of their budget is lost to 'overpayment'.

Last week's IMF, etc. meetings in Singapore saw a group of bankers and such ...well, bankers if you count officials of African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank Group, the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank ... meet to talk about corruption, ostensibly with the aim of stopping all such nonsense.

Since some of the folks in these groups are, in my view, seriously more part of the problem than they will ever want to be of the solution, you'll excuse me for being just a touch on the incredulous side and reticent to start the jumping for joy about yet.

From one report:

The leaders have outlined a joint action plan to combat corruption and agreed to work together to assist their member countries in strengthening governance and combating corruption. They also agreed to work in cooperation with civil society and other stakeholders with the goal to enhance transparency and accountability.

Unfortunately, the on-going efforts by government bodies, civil societies and development agencies, corruption is yet to show any sign of abatement.

There is not doubt about the need of good governance against corruption, but good governance can be established just by enacting some laws or setting up some institutions. Development initiatives should address factors that ensure good governance in a country.

One of such factors is education. Education helps people to groom as responsible citizens and makes them aware of the evil of corruption. Educated citizens are the founding pillars of sound governance and responsive public administration. Well-defined laws, regulations and institutions are unable to thwart corruption, unless citizens actively demand accountability from government and institutions.

School curriculum should be designed to educate the children against the evil of corruption. Instead of focusing only on the passing rates of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations, time has come to think about the quality aspect of the education system.

Would this be a good time to talk about corruption in education?