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A novice at corruption




The Labour Department had jurisdiction over visitors and guests who wished to enter the country. They had separate entrances for vehicles and pedestrians. Vehicles that wished to enter the country needed to have clearance from the Immigration Department. They usually had to pay a small fee at the Immigration Office before they reached the gates to access  the roads leading out to the main roads to  head north of the country. The officers were unhappy to see  drivers carelessly discarding refuse like empty cigarette boxes just outside the gates. They decided to leave wicker baskets for ease of lorry drivers to drop their refuse with signboards warning that dropping of refuse indiscriminately would attract prosecution punishable under the laws of the Department. 


There used to be thousands of lorries passing through the gates and over time drivers used to throw cash and loose change as they were not legal tender once they crossed the border. Over time word got around that one needs to drop money into the wicker baskets to get into the country without harassment. At the end of each shift the money collected was sent to the Supervisor’s  room who would divide the takings and share it with everyone on duty. 


One day a new recruit was posted and when she received the payment she inquired the purpose of this money. She was informed it was overtime payment. The following day when the money was distributed she noticed she was getting less than her colleagues. She stormed into the Supervisor’s office and complained that she was getting less overtime money than her colleagues who had worked the same number of hours. The Supervisor called one of his officers to take the novice to his room and explain what the payment was all about. After hearing the explanation she told him she was a straight forward person and did not want money that had not been rightfully earned. So her name was deleted from the list of recipients giving a bigger share to the remaining officers. This went on for a while until the officer realised she was losing out and requested the Supervisor to reinstate her name. The Supervisor was glad to bring her into the fold as an officer who was not part of the system could pose problems even if she innocently disclosed information about  these payments. 


All contents (c) Ganapathy Ramasamy, mynameisgana@blogspot.com


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