Lack of political will and capacity, poor procedures failing to focus on policy implementation and absence of honesty are among the main factors behind the failure of accountability in Pakistan.
These reasons were identified by the Director General, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Brigadier M. Musaddiq Abbasi (Retd), at a seminar on "Awareness and Prevention of Corruption" organised by Transparency International - Pakistan in collaboration with Anti-Corruption Establishment, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 30 at Pearl Continental Hotel Peshawar.
Chairman, Transparency International - Pakistan, Syed Adil Gilani, gave a brief introduction of the national chapter which was followed by a short introductory speech of Brigadier (Retd) Muhammad Musaddiq Abbasi in which he explained the organisational infrastructure and functions of the anti-corruption body. SSP Investigation Peshawar Muhammad Yameen Khan while explaining the functions of the anti-corruption establishment also discussed some successful anti-corruption models of the world.
He said that initiatives taken for making such efforts more effective throughout the world included establishment of 24 hours anti-corruption hotline and contact centers at district level, rewards for the informers, creation of ethical environment through seminars, workshops, and moral summits and enabling public access to decision through oversight committees.
He said that there was a strong need to appoint more judges in anti-corruption courts and establishment of Intelligence Integration Cell. He further said that the anti-corruption establishment was planning to establish citizens' committees and would continue supporting media and TI-Pakistan for the cause of anti-corruption. Explaining deficiencies in laws, Yameen said that permission for registration, prosecution and enquiries are granted by different authorities which made the process quite complicated. He added that jurisdictional limitations, lack of reward, encouragement system and resources also act as barriers.
Syed Adil Gilani in his presentation highlighted findings of National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) 2010. He discussed salient features of Public Procurement rules 2004 and informed the audience that Sindh and Punjab have already adopted the rules while the process was on in the other two provinces.
He also explained the activities aimed at making corruption a high cost and low return commodity. Mr Gilani discussed the Anti-fraud hotline project launched early this year under an agreement signed with the USAID. He said that anyone facing or witnessing corruption in any USAID funded project could lodge complaint though web, toll free phone number, fax or by post.
Second session started with the presentation by DG NAB. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Brigadier (Retd) M. Musaddiq Abbasi on 'Corruption and Accountability in Pakistan'. Director Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nisar Ahmad Khan Tanoli in his presentation on 'Contemporary Anti-Corruption Strategies of ACE' said that reforms have been made in order to bring improvement in over-all performance but legal problems are still a big hurdle in achieving the goal. At the end of the seminar, Certificates were distributed by Rashid Ahmad, Secretary Establishment, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.