In my last post I spoke about the potential harmful effects of a lack of proper regulation due to corruption. Unfortunately, just 2 weeks later we have a very sad proof of this - the death of 2 friends.
Let me tell you more about it. The streets of Dushanbe are famous for having 2 traffic police (the GAI) every 50 meters, especially along the main street, Rudaki Avenue. Traffic police are famous for stopping cars at any time and the reason is clear to everybody. All of this petty bribery would be acceptable, if they were at least maintaining a minimum safety level along the area they patrol. This is not the case - accidents are very frequent, cars drive at high speed in the streets … and people get KILLED at 11 pm in the centre of town by cars traveling 100 km/h. This is what happened to our 2 friends working in Dushanbe the night of June 21st, but it is not an isolated case. It is very sad … we are all very sad.
In a conference this week in Dushanbe, the Minister of Finance of Georgia, in describing the deep reforms undertaken by his country, told us that from one day to the next they eliminated the GAI, as they only represented a source of corruption: we are not asking that much of the Tajik Government … but it definitely is food for thought!!
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