As the saying goes, ‘one needs two hands to clap’ – and this is so true in this context. We talk about bribery and corruption, and always blame politicians, state sector employees, the police and so on. But there is another aspect that’s seldom voiced.

The argument often heard is ‘What to do, if we don’t give we can’t get our job done; so we are compelled to give!’ How pathetic is this?

If everyone gets together and brings down powerful politicians, if all the givers get together, they can certainly ensure that there will be no takers! Yes, we can do this for sure.

If a large project is offered to a company and the politician in question, or his or her taker, is expecting a kickback, the company has to decide what course of action it should take. No doubt a hard decision when shareholders are at your neck for returns and the fear is that your competition will grab the opportunity.

But if one isn’t bold enough to take these decisions, I do not think we have a right to blame the takers. Because if nothing is given, there is nothing to take!

All of us together have created an environment in which we need to give ‘something’ to get ‘something’ – things as small as getting our garbage collected to winning a lucrative tender for the company- although a distinction will have to be made between a gratuitous payment to the garbage collector and his or her demand for a payment to collect the garbage.

So perhaps without blaming each other, we should push for a more transparent system.

For example, if it’s a tender, let it be something like an online system so everyone has an equal chance to consider applying. Of course, some will still warp it but at least we can minimise the opacity.

In addition, let’s take the decision making away from ministers and appoint a senior bureaucrat who has the right credentials to be in charge of these tenders.

And last but not least, let’s hope the givers will not object to these changes!

The argument often heard is ‘What to do, if we don’t give we can’t get our job done; so we are compelled to give!’ How pathetic is this?