FINANCE Minister M Saifur Rahman's startling acknowledgement that corruption has assumed an all-pervasive character needs to be placed in the right perspective. The minister went to the extent of saying that all the ministries, with the National Board of Revenue being among the top, were steeped in corruption of the most intractable kind. He deserves credit for having the courage to state the truth, no secret though, that has a great bearing on governance.

There have been numerous reports by both local and international organisations and the media which depicted a grim picture of corruption eating up the lion's share of our scanty resources. And it is the widely held view of the people that corruption is the single most important cause behind economic hardship and other socio-economic ills. So it seems the stark reality is being acknowledged a bit too late.

However, things cannot be set right by merely admitting the truth that the monster of corruption has grown too large. The first question that arises is why the government, which has been in place for nearly four years, allowed the situation to become so bad? What have they done to arrest the malignant growth?

Now that the finance minister himself has admitted that we are lost in the abyss of corruption, the government has to think in terms of corrective steps. It cannot any longer dismiss the media reports as an attempt to discredit the government or bruise the image of the country. The regrettable thing however is that valuable time has been lost before the government could be wakened to the ground reality. Meanwhile, the country has been paying a high price for rampant corruption.

Now, people would like to know what the government is going to do to slay the monster. As the finance minister has admitted, the job is not easy given the nature and extent of the problem. The onus now falls on the prime minister to clear the stable. She has to act with great determination because corruption charges are there against her own office, the ministers, ruling party stalwarts, not to mention her own family members.

The fight against corruption has be transformed into a crusade where no sinners, regardless of their political affiliations, will be spared.