As up to 22 NHS trusts are reported as facing serious financial difficulties because of expensive PFI schemes a lot of radio news time is being given to Lords reform.
These corporate–political ventures are yet another indication of the need for legislation to address this corrupt situation.
When will government address the root causes – lobbying and revolving door scandals?
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As Finn Heinrich of Transparency International explains:
“Corruption and impunity have an immense destabilising effect on society. Now more than ever, mutually accountable action is needed to create irreversible change, and to ensure that the power fuelled by corruption harms societies no more.
It is people who will create this change.
“Corruption is the main impediment for sustainable globalisation:
(a) since it impedes economic growth and
(b) destroys trust in public and private institutions and therefore in democracy itself.
“To fight corruption, we need two main ingredients:
(1) Genuine political will and
(2) Pressure from an informed citizenry to hold the power-holders accountable.”
One of the 13th TI conference findings: a role for civil society
“The role of the consumer can be extremely powerful in changing incentives of companies, e.g. 3 out of 4 European consumers are willing to change their behaviour based on ethical considerations. Besides further regulations, business sector needs to (re-)discover its “moral compass”.
