Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sent a letter to federal ministers and secretaries telling them that corruption being a hurdle in the way of serving the masses, removal of this menace is his government's top priority. There is no room for corrupt and non-transparent practices in the present dispensation, he said. Governance cannot be improved unless corruption, nepotism, inefficiency and conflict of interest are tackled upfront. Good words, indeed.
But how does he intend to achieve that objective? To give a completely new look to the government he said, "we need to be very careful in selection of our teams and those holding positions of authority, whether in the divisions of the statutory bodies, as this selection can affect the image of the government on the one hand and its performance on the other." The letter went on to aver that the present staff needs to be properly screened and those having reputations of inefficiency, unfriendly attitude towards public and involved in corruption shall be removed, or their contracts cancelled forthwith. These assertions come across as a rhetorical stance at best, and reflect an arbitrary and capricious tendency at worst.
In practical terms it means a minister or a secretary will have the right to dismiss public servants declaring anyone inefficient, rude or corrupt. The effort is premised on the assumption that the ministers and secretaries are free from all such bad character traits. It also ignores the fact that people can be vindictive for personal reasons as well. Ministers or secretaries may want to get rid of otherwise competent persons just because they do not like somebody's face or for not being good enough at the art of sycophancy.
Corruption in high places, after terrorism, is the most important issue confronting this society. The manner in which appointments to important public sector positions of authority were made during the recent years, in exchange for huge sums of money in utter disregard of merit, is an open secret. Unfortunately, corruption was made acceptable too, as many argued that the menace existed in other societies as well, including advanced ones. It may exist elsewhere, but in civilised societies no one justifies misuse of public office for personal gratification. In Britain, for example, in the infamous expenses scandal, six legislators - three MPs and three peers - lost their membership of parliament and served term in jail for a relatively minor crime - by our standards - for wrongly claiming expenses for hotel stays and rent for self-owned homes. The former US treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, had to face considerable embarrassment during his confirmation hearings for having neglected to pay $35,000 in Social Security and Medicare Payroll taxes while working for the IMF. He was confirmed only after was able to convince the Senate Finance Committee that the issue was the result of "unintentional" errors, and paid his dues. Then there is the example of former French president Nicholas Sarkozi who was questioned and indicted, as soon as the presidential immunity period was over, for allegedly accepting financial contributions from the owner of a famous cosmetics company, L'Oreal, for his 2007 presidential election campaign.
The situation here is quite the opposite. A majority of the legislators think nothing of not paying their dues to the state. Many in the outgoing assemblies had not bothered even to get a National Tax Number. And it has been common practice for governments, both at the Centre and in the provinces, including the PML-N-ruled Punjab, to award lucrative contracts of government projects without observing the rule that requires proper advertisement in newspapers for calling bids. In many instances, the requirement was fulfilled for appearances sake only. In others, the qualifications for jobs or contracts were deliberately designed to suit particular individuals or firms. As regards nepotism, the less said the better. Suffice it to look at who is who among the female members of assemblies occupying reserved seats. The only qualification a vast majority of them boasts, especially those representing the Nawaz League and the PPP, is that of being a close relative of an influential party leader.
If the government is really serious about the issue it should evolve and implement a political code of ethics. The first thing to do towards that end is to maintain complete transparency through strict adherence to the existing rules pertaining to public office appointments and award of government projects contracts. Equally important, the accountability bill that has been sitting in Parliament for several years ought to be redrafted for passage so as to ensure impartial, across the board accountability of all. The National Accountability Bureau must be empowered as an independent organisation having its own resources to carry out investigations. The conflict of interest issue has been ignored for far too long. There are numerous examples where those in power abused their positions to make decisions aimed at promoting personal business or other interests. PTI Chairman Imran Khan has been talking about introducing a conflict of interest bill in the National Assembly, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif welcoming the proposal. It is about time, all the good words are translated into action.
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