One strategy is to try to pay people so much that they are immune to bribery - since they don’t need more money. Unfortunately, the greed of some people is unlimited, and so there is no such thing as ‘enough’.
Probably we can’t eliminate corruption completely, but in terms of pay it seems to me that the pay just needs to be high enough to make the person comfortable and unconcerned about their own financial well-being. It does not need to be high enough to make them rich. Sometimes people say that we need to pay enough to attract the best people - but I’d suggest that the best people are not necessarily the people who are motivated by excessive salaries. To me, people who get into politics to solve problem in society are far more desirable than people who get into it because they see it as a good job with good pay.
Aside from this, I think the focus should be on trying to close off the most common avenues of corruption; for example by having rules against ex-ministers working in sectors that they had influence over. Gifts and donations and paid meetings are obvious ones too, which do already have some rules - but clearly could be tightened further.
Something that astounds me when I hear stories of bribery and corruption is the staggeringly small amounts involved. Like a politician who has been on a generous six-figure income for years and owns multiple million-dollar houses, yet who can be bought by $2000 in a brown paper bag.
You do however need to reward the PM generously, to avoid corruption and bribery.
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, there could well be jobs that earn more than the PM. But I wouldn’t expect it to be very many.
One strategy is to try to pay people so much that they are immune to bribery - since they don’t need more money. Unfortunately, the greed of some people is unlimited, and so there is no such thing as ‘enough’.
Probably we can’t eliminate corruption completely, but in terms of pay it seems to me that the pay just needs to be high enough to make the person comfortable and unconcerned about their own financial well-being. It does not need to be high enough to make them rich. Sometimes people say that we need to pay enough to attract the best people - but I’d suggest that the best people are not necessarily the people who are motivated by excessive salaries. To me, people who get into politics to solve problem in society are far more desirable than people who get into it because they see it as a good job with good pay.
Aside from this, I think the focus should be on trying to close off the most common avenues of corruption; for example by having rules against ex-ministers working in sectors that they had influence over. Gifts and donations and paid meetings are obvious ones too, which do already have some rules - but clearly could be tightened further.
Something that astounds me when I hear stories of bribery and corruption is the staggeringly small amounts involved. Like a politician who has been on a generous six-figure income for years and owns multiple million-dollar houses, yet who can be bought by $2000 in a brown paper bag.
When the system requires nudge-nudge, wink-wink ‘donations’ for their election to become PM, I’d argue corruption qnd bribery is already a given.
And let’s not forget the cushy consultancy, speaking gigs and board positions after…