"We no longer choose people who are qualified and capable in terms of party leadership caliber. We choose people who offer us money or gifts or other things." This is how that great Malaysian statesman Mahathir bin Mohamed, whose fame as a forthright leader had grown to iconic proportions, had looked at corruption.
Transparency International Pakistan which has been relentlessly fighting against corruption, the biggest challenge to this nation, politicians, public servants and business community, has now come out with a 14-point suggestion, which have been forwarded to all political parties, for inclusion in their manifestos to wipeout scourge of corruption from society.
"In effect, promoting greater transparency and accountability of political parties and their supporters would be a significant step towards stable, democratic government," said Adviser, Transparency International Pakistan, Syed Adil Gilani in a letter forwarding the suggestions to all political parties on June 25.
On September 15, 2012 TI Pakistan will conduct a survey on the election manifesto of all parties to ascertain whether they have addressed the suggested 14 anti-corruption recommendations, and the survey will be released in a press conference. TIP which is non-partisan and non-political, is the leading anti-corruption advocacy non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption and bringing civil society, business and government together on one platform, in a powerful global coalition to fight this malaise. It operates through over 100 independent national chapters world-wide. "Allegations of corruption have undermined and destabilised democracy in Pakistan, distorted our public policies, and led to misallocation of our meager resources. It has harmed public and private sector developments and has given reason for dissolving the four previous democratically elected governments", he said. Adil Gilani requested all political parties to include in their manifestos,' as a policy matter, following recommendations for combating corruption and good governance:
1. All appointments/promotions of civil servants and head of public bodies will be merit based on pre-determined selection criteria.
2. Within six months of the new government, an independent National Accountability Commission will be set up or National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance will be amended to be under the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), to deal with public office holders viz. civilians, armed forces, judiciary and private sector involved in corruption in government funds.
3. Following appointments shall be made in consensus with opposition leader of national/provincial assemblies.
Auditor-General Pakistan, Chairman NAB/ DGs Provinces, DG FIA, all Ombudsmen, Chairman FBR, Attorney-General / Advocate-General, and Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission.
4. All regulatory authorities viz. SECP, CCP, PPRA, EPA, SBP, Ogra, Pemra, PTA, PFRA, Nepra etc, shall be fully autonomous, comprising of professionals, without any nominations from government. They shall be financially self generating entities, and not dependent on government finances, and answerable only to Public Accounts Committee.
5. Within six months of the new government, Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 will be revised for deletion of all exemptions except for national security reasons and all information under Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 shall be made available on web sites of all ministries /departments/organisations to comply with Constitution Article 19 A.
6. Only a taxpayer should be allowed to buy a property and cars.
7. When government is formed, foreign states will be sent official letters to return Pakistan's money in their banks which is not tax paid. The government, under Article 25(1) of the Avoidance of Double Taxation Treaty with Switzerland, and Return of Illicit Assets Act or RIAA, will seek information regarding Pakistanis maintaining accounts in the Alpine state as has been done by many countries.
8. Motorway police/Highway police models under use in Punjab, shall also be implemented within one year in all major cities of all provinces in Pakistan.
9. Party will suspend its member from the public post, in case he is faced with court case on corruption charges, and will only be restored once he is acquitted from the court.
10. Land records of provinces, Federal Territory and Azad Kashmir will be computerised within one year.
11. Conflict of Interest provisions shall be mandatory in all public office holders' job description, as well as corporations and authorities, including Board of Directors of public sector enterprises.
12. Control of Ministry of Ministry of Information over government advertisements will be deregulated. Each public sector institution will manage its own advertisements and media policy, and no government sponsored advertisement will have photograph of any political person other than that of the Quaid-i-Azam.
13. All state-owned urban land will only be disposed off by open public auction.
14. For preventing conflicts of interest, all officers of Civilian, Armed Forces and Judiciary, of above BPS 20 or equivalent, shall not for a period of 5 years from the date from which they retire and cease to hold office, will accept any employment or consultancy of any private sector undertaking.
TIP also attached with its letter a story published in daily Business Recorder on December 24, 2007 in which it was pointed out that TIP on November 21, 2007 wrote to all major political parties in Pakistan to include in their party manifesto 11 recommendations for good governance.
Adil Gilani said that prior to the general elections of 2002, a 'political parties pledge to the people of Pakistan' was signed by all political parties on September 19, 2002 at a national convention organised by TIP at the Convention Centre in Islamabad.
It read: "We solemnly pledge to the people of Pakistan that after the elections, when the new government is sworn in, those of us who emerge as the elected leaders of our beloved country will as a matter of the highest urgency come together to adopt and implement an effective anti-corruption reform program which will strengthen accountability and transparency through an independent and effective judicial system based on ensured access to information through out all level of federal and provincial governments." How much did they comply with their pledge to the nation on an independent and effective judicial system and ensured access to information is for the people to judge, Adil Gilani said.
Comments
Comments are closed.