Syria suffered from injustice and corruption under the tyrannical rule of the Assadist junta and its godfather, Bashar Assad, who upheld full control of it and shifted the army from its primary function of defending the state to defending his own personal security, using a network of octopus espionage and tight intelligence. The ruling Assadists embodied tyranny, counting everything in Syria, and on it, as their own. One of the consequences of this kind of government is economic stagnation and underdevelopment.
We hear news about the dismissal of a number of Syrian government officials and their referral to the judiciary on charges of corruption, including the news of the dismissal of about 20 senior officers in the Ministry of Interior, and a parallel number of general managers and senior Syrian state officials with the referral of the files of some of them to the supervisory bodies to “hold them accountable” and “punish” them.
It is no secret that corruption has become, over time, a rampant epidemic that gnaws at all cells of all state institutions and departments
Dr. Jamal TAHHAN
Such pieces of news are not new in Syria. Such campaigns of anti-corruption are fake ones. They surface at times of economic and political deterioration, but things will soon return as they were, and perhaps even much worse. It is no secret that corruption has become, over time, a rampant epidemic that gnaws at all cells of all state institutions and departments.
Since corruption is defined in one simple phrase as the exploitation of public office to serve personal interests and benefits, it is directly related to the ones who put people in public office. They choose only the ones who have a history in activities, economic and social, that testify to their exploitation of public powers given to them to impose a special climate for the rise of black market (exchange and smuggling of foreign currencies, smuggling of goods and commodities, sex and drug trade, etc.).
Being corrupt is a must to assume political and administrative responsibilities and how this became the norm in popular culture contrary to the noble values of truth, integrity and justice.
fighting corruption will work only after eradicating the scourge of Assadists and their cancerous roots in the Syrian state
Dr. Jamal TAHHAN
What is heart-breaking and painful is that this insidious disease has already devoured the Syrian judiciary, not only because of the weak and deteriorating wages and living standards, but also because of the ill relationship between the judiciary and politics. The Emergency Law and Martial Law made the judicial institution an executive institution, allowing space along the line to impose political will and interests, flouting the role of the judiciary in consolidating the rule of law.
Corruption in Syria is a political phenomenon par excellence. Therefore, fighting corruption will work only after eradicating the scourge of Assadists and their cancerous roots in the Syrian state, and building a natural relationship between the three executive, judicial and legislative authorities, allowing the separation of the judiciary from political interests, and to provide fertile soil for the growth of the natural role of judges in consolidating the rule of law and the values of right and justice in society, along with the need to spread public freedoms in the country, in particular the freedom to elect, the selection of competent and personal persons to public office, as well as freedom of expression, opinion and political activity.
There is a need to improve the living conditions of all workers in the state
Dr. Jamal TAHHAN
In conclusion, the atmosphere of freedom is the only one capable of correcting all mistakes, monitoring the general performance of every official, exposing any behavior that exceeds powers and responsibilities. There is a need to improve the living conditions of all workers in the state in order to provide a limit of wages commensurate with the requirements of living with dignity.