ACC makes a breakthrough in combating corruption: Muzaffar
Friday, 4 January 2008
Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) has made a breakthrough in combating corruption and has proved its ability in bringing many powerful persons under the jurisdiction of law and establishing the fact that none is above law, reports BSS.
However, the Commission should be more interactive with common people in its motivational campaign by taking steps to remove some concerns of the people regarding the target and goal of the anti-graft drive.
Professor Muzaffar Ahmed, chairman of the trustee board of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), a stakeholder of the ACC, told the news agency while talking on different aspects of anti-corruption drive that visibly took shape one year back after the present caretaker government took over.
"Commoners' perception is that more big corrupt persons are still out of the mesh," he said adding the ACC must remove the perception in the coming days by bringing many more corrupt politicians and bureaucrats to justice.
The success of the anti-corruption drive as a whole depended on the future course of action of the ACC as to how it took step to remove the perception and build peoples' confidence, he said.
Appreciating the social motivational campaign of the ACC Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, he said more interaction with common people and involvement of young people with the campaign would bring the Commission nearer to people.
"I think there should have some qualitative changes in the campaign. Earlier, the ACC chairman administered oath against corruption, though it was somehow dramatic. But, it creates some sense among people against corruption," he observed.
"But now he came back to Dhaka after giving speeches without any interaction with common people. I think he (ACC chairman) should be more interactive so that people may think him as a person close to them," Muzaffar Ahmed said.
ACC should take people in confidence on a large scale and let people know its existing problems to draw more public support, he added.
Pointing out the trial of the graft cases in the special courts, he said people were also confused with the legal aspects of the cases. The trial process of all graft cases should be more transparent, he said.
Prof Muzaffar said the present caretaker government made the ACC a free and functional organisation through necessary reforms of law and without interfering in its activities. It helped the Commission build its capacity to handle more work which it never had done before, he said.
He justified the priorities of the ACC to launch its drive at individual level and said the Commission now had to focus on systemic corruption at different level of the public sectors.
He observed some former employees, who were still working at different positions in the ACC, are involved in some sort of irregularities that led the Commission to take swift action against such elements. Sooner the ACC was cleared of the corrupt officials, the better it would be able to function properly, he said.
However, the Commission should be more interactive with common people in its motivational campaign by taking steps to remove some concerns of the people regarding the target and goal of the anti-graft drive.
Professor Muzaffar Ahmed, chairman of the trustee board of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), a stakeholder of the ACC, told the news agency while talking on different aspects of anti-corruption drive that visibly took shape one year back after the present caretaker government took over.
"Commoners' perception is that more big corrupt persons are still out of the mesh," he said adding the ACC must remove the perception in the coming days by bringing many more corrupt politicians and bureaucrats to justice.
The success of the anti-corruption drive as a whole depended on the future course of action of the ACC as to how it took step to remove the perception and build peoples' confidence, he said.
Appreciating the social motivational campaign of the ACC Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, he said more interaction with common people and involvement of young people with the campaign would bring the Commission nearer to people.
"I think there should have some qualitative changes in the campaign. Earlier, the ACC chairman administered oath against corruption, though it was somehow dramatic. But, it creates some sense among people against corruption," he observed.
"But now he came back to Dhaka after giving speeches without any interaction with common people. I think he (ACC chairman) should be more interactive so that people may think him as a person close to them," Muzaffar Ahmed said.
ACC should take people in confidence on a large scale and let people know its existing problems to draw more public support, he added.
Pointing out the trial of the graft cases in the special courts, he said people were also confused with the legal aspects of the cases. The trial process of all graft cases should be more transparent, he said.
Prof Muzaffar said the present caretaker government made the ACC a free and functional organisation through necessary reforms of law and without interfering in its activities. It helped the Commission build its capacity to handle more work which it never had done before, he said.
He justified the priorities of the ACC to launch its drive at individual level and said the Commission now had to focus on systemic corruption at different level of the public sectors.
He observed some former employees, who were still working at different positions in the ACC, are involved in some sort of irregularities that led the Commission to take swift action against such elements. Sooner the ACC was cleared of the corrupt officials, the better it would be able to function properly, he said.