A sordid tale of corruption

In its report, made public in Islamabad on Wednesday, Oxfam, a respected international humanitarian organisation, unveiled details of how corrupt government officials are capitalising on the miseries of last year's devastating earthquake in Kashmir and parts of NWFP.
Oxfam Country Representative Farhana Farouqi disclosed that "several instances have to our notice wherein local officials verifying land ownership documents have been involved in corruption." Revenue officers, she said, have been found charging inflated fees for issuing essential documents.
And local officials and landlords are reported to be demanding upto 50 percent share in the shelter compensation before signing the agreement that the quake survivors need in order to receive government cash payments. Quite disturbing, though, these disclosures are, they are not new. Reports have been surfacing here and there of unscrupulous elements exploiting the plight of quake victims to make money.
It may be recalled that soon after the colossal calamity, while the government was trying to arrange for tents to protect the survivors from the vagaries of a fast approaching harsh winter a serious financial scandal involving 1.8 billion rupees had come to light. A PPP-P Senator had brought it to public attention on the Senate floor, accusing a member of the federal cabinet, Textile Minister Mushtaq Cheema, himself a textile mill owner, of having compromised on the weather and water proof specifications of tents.
The minister did admit that compromises indeed had been made on quality, the price given to the manufacturers was double the prevailing market rate, and that the standard procedure of calling tenders was also ignored, but offered the justification of time constraint for everything. Unfortunately, this infirm justification was accepted and no one was held accountable for making quick money at the expense of the quake victims.
The present Oxfam report raises the obvious question, if a private organisation has the information on various corruption scandals that have gone on in the quake affected areas, why those in charge, especially the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), do not know about it. If they do, what have they done to address the problem?
The answer, of course, is: nothing. Which also makes one wonder where is the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)? Why is it not doing anything about such a serious corruption issue that has life-changing implications for millions of those affected by last year's natural disaster?
Now that the Oxfam report has clearly identified the many new malpractices that are going on in the affected areas, it goes without saying that the government needs to take serious notice and do something about them.
The Oxfam representative rightly suggests that the government and ERRA should ensure transparency and accountability in the reconstruction activities for the benefit of donors as well as survivors.