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Use ICT to combat corruption

Experts speak on how to curb graft through ICT

Star Business Report
THE government should utilise information and communication technology (ICT) more robustly to fight endemic corruption, experts said yesterday. The comments came at a roundtable on the role of ICT in combating corruption, at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) organised the seminar in association with the USAID PROGATI project (Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency and Integrity) and the Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI).
For the keynote speech, Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury, the vice-chancellor of University of Asia Pacific, said recent ICT developments and the rapid increase in the number of Bangladeshis accessing the internet have opened up new channels through which corruption can be reduced.
He urged the government to implement the recommendations from Action Plan of ICT Policy 2009, as some of them are directly linked to efforts to reduce corruption.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith highlighted several ICT tools that can minimise and eliminate prevailing corruption, such as the usage of the national identification card.
“We must make sure the national identity card is up-to-date. We can enhance it by adding some more information," he said.
He said online payment should be made universal to abolish corruption in transaction.
The minister also upheld the implementation of citizen's charter that can point out official malpractices.
"We are not taking full advantage of the charter."
Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, said the government's 'Digital Bangladesh' vision is a success in a sense that it has generated a lot of enthusiasm.
She said acceptance of corruption and no punishment for such
crimes is damaging for the society.
"People are under the impression that since there are loopholes in the legal mechanism they can get away with it."
She said ICT can be a big tool in the fight against corruption.
"We should put all our efforts behind it."
Anam urged the government to make the land record management digital as the manual system is blamed for the endemic corruption at the sub-registers' offices across the country.
Nazrul Islam Khan, secretary at the ministry of information and communication technology, said uses of ICT have to be structured to make it more productive.
Lawmaker Hasanul Haq Inu, president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, said it would be tough to eliminate corruption if the police still need to take permission from the authorities to investigate charges of corruption against
secretaries, ministers and lawmakers.
He said the political leadership would have to take bold steps to stop the prevalent large-scale corruption in the country.
Yeafesh Osman, state minister for science and technology, said the main reason behind the failure to curb corruption in the country is that corrupts are not punished for the menace.
He added that ICT can play a role in bringing down the corruption level.
M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, cabinet secretary, said the government agencies cannot give information to people as they do not have a complete database.
He said the government is preparing a National Integrity Strategy, which, once formulated and approved, would help curb corruption.
Bhuiyan also said the coun-
try's land record, police case record and case management record in courts have to be digitalised.
Richard Greene, mission director of USAID-PROGATI, said ICT is a powerful tool for achieving good governance as it gives people voice.
"ICT helps the marginalised and the youth voice — and help them connect and play a role in the society," he said.
Former education minister Osman Faruk said that political will is the vital ingredient for fighting corruption.
“Until zero tolerance to corruption is fully realised and political processes are transparent, ICT will not be effective to eliminate corruption. ICT is only a tool, elimination of corruption depends on how ICT is put to use,” he said.
Sadeka Halim, information commissioner, said there are
some service rules that psychologically bar government officials from disclosing information to the public.
“The right to information act supersedes those official secrecy acts prevalent in many offices, based on which officials deny giving out information. These acts must be repealed and mindset must be changed so that people could have access to information," she said.
Mustafizur Rahman, the deputy commissioner of Jessore, where a number of ICT projects were successfully implemented, said the services delivered by the public administration have to be turned into e-service to eliminate the scope for corruption.
He also said the e-services have to seen from the point of view of the beneficiaries.
ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman presided over the seminar.