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Two Concrete Steps towards Greater' Accountability
THE World Bank sponsored consultation with the civil society on Tuesday was held tn two sessions: one devoted to 'poverty alleviation strategy and governance' and the other to 'accountability and transparency.' both the themes being evidently inter-related. The discussion was highly focused on the accountability issue which is at (he heart of the seemingly intractable governance problem our economy is bedevilled by. The government of the day is apt to demand accountability from others with a holier-than-thou attitude. This partly emanates from the arrogance of mandate and partly from an instinct of self-preservation lest the beans were spilled.
But it falls squarely on an elected government to be accountable for all Its actions. It remains answerable on the floor of the Jatlya Sangsad and through the whole array of parliamentary standing committees. There, any opposition worth the salt would demand explanation from the government party on its lapses. In practice though the government gets a walk-over through the opposition's boycott of parliament sessions. That is all the more reason on why there should be built-in safeguards against all forms of abuse of power and corruption played out with money from the public exchequer and money or resource garnered from external sources.
We have two specific suggestions to make by way of grappling with the questions of accountability' in the government, in the private sector and in the political parties.
In the first place, it is highly imperative for us now to have an independent national commission to fight corruption. It will be no part of the Prime Minister's Office nor should It be an appendage to the police directorate. It will be a full-fledged statutory body required to report only to the Parliament, which in turn, shall cause discussions to be held on the contents of the commission's report and have directives sent to relevant quarters for corrective measures where due. Hong Kong provides the most successful model for such an antl-corruptlon commission.
There are reasons to believe that politics, by and large, is financed by corruption and black money. The most convenient and profitable way of laundering black money is to funnel it to the political parties for their organisational activities. This is how the government's protection and favour are bought up. At the same time they also fund other major political parties as a future investment.
There is no magical solution to the complicated problem of party funding encompassing tax evasion, extortion, smuggling, over-invoicing, under-invoicing and a whole lot of underhand dealings. Like we have set a unique example by having our elections held under a neutral caretaker government we can think of devising our own way to go round the problem of political parties’ critical harmful dependence on black money which obligate them to serve their benefactors.
As for the election campaign expenditure overshooting the Tk 3 lakh ceiling by miles, we have a two-fold recipe to offer: one, equip the Election Commission sufficiently to enable it to monitor election expenses of the contestants effectively; and two, let’s specially assign a whole set of qualified private sector chartered accountants to audit the electoral expenses of the candidates after the general elections are held. The onrush of complaints at the turn of every election needs attention.
This could provide sinews to accountability at the most vital stage of our electoral process.