Some suggestions in the fight against corruption
Dr. Jamir Chowdhury | Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Last week alone, a number of reports on corruption were published throughout the world. It shows that Bangladesh is not alone in the fight against corruption. Many countries are very serious against corruption, abuse and misuse. Case in point, government prosecutors have demanded 15-year prison term for a senior Indonesian prosecutor charged with receiving a $660,000 as bribe to drop a high-level embezzlement case.
The legal noose tightened around former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last week when, on July 31, the nation's Criminal Court found his wife Pojaman Shinawatra guilty of tax evasion, sentencing her to three years in prison in a decision. It is likely to increase already sharp political tensions in the country. Pojaman, her brother Bannaphot Damapong and her secretary Pennapa Honghern were found guilty of evading $16.3 million in taxes and providing false testimony in relation to a transfer of 4.5 million shares in Shin Corporation, the telecommunications conglomerate formerly owned by Thaksin and his family, in 1997.
In the UAE, Abdul Salam Al Marri, chief executive of the Lagoons - a project by Sama Dubai, a Dubai-government owned real estate developer, is facing probe.
Corruption in Bangladesh has been the number one national shame and disease. This is the first time in decades that this army-backed government has established an independent body to fight against corruption. The appointment of Gen. Chowdhury as the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was the most effective decision. Since his appointment as the chairman of ACC, Mr. Chowdhury has proved his strong leadership skills.
He has also created an impression that a goal-oriented, strong and honest leader could make a significant difference in every sphere of life. The ACC chairman's recent activities to uproot, prevent, and contain corruption are highly and very much appreciated in and out of the country. His innovative approach to develop and build organizations at the grassroots, support groups, and movement may be used in other developing countries.
These are effective means to prevent the future corruption. All of them also provide a huge psychological impetus to develop resistance against corruption in society.
It is very surprising to watch that our political parties and politicians are not much interested to talk about it. They are more interested in grabbing the power soon. Though this writer has heard that Awami League president Sk. Hasina stated that she would continue to fight against corruption if she would come to power, this scribe has not seen any organized actions by the Awami League leaders against corruption. BNP and Jamaat have not talked against corruption at all since most of the top leaders of BNP are accused of corruption and abuse. Other small political parties are talking about it, but it is not known what active role they are playing to assist the ACC or to develop awareness at grassroots against corruption. However, recent announcement by the Rajshahi Mayor to root out corruption from the Mayor's office is an encouraging sign for the country. He may be one of a very few politicians who had the courage to talk openly against corruption. In the given situation, the ACC chairman and his staff members are not enough to deal with the massive fraud, corruption and embezzlement that made us one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world. In Bangladesh, most of the politicians have no idea about how to run an administration efficiently.
Those, along with some government officials, looted the country. Most of the professionals and government officials made money through various illegal means. This scribe would like to say that most of the officials in the government's service-providing agencies (engineering, police, customs, taxes, housing and so on) are involved in corruption and abuse of power. Based on his observation, this writer would request the ACC to look into the following recommendations to continue its crusade against corruption:
1. Anti-corruption message must be included in our curricula
2. All non-government organisations (NGOs) must play a vital role against corruption
3. Voluntary support groups will to be built at the grassroots levels to work as 'watch groups'
4. All professional people (lawyers, enforcement agencies, judge, bank accountants, auditors and so on) will need to be involved to work against corruption.
5. Bangladeshis living abroad (who can intellectually and professionally get involved should be invited to make concerted efforts to help combat corruption
6. Voluntary groups abroad who may work and speak against corruption in and out of the country may be proved.
7. If Truth and Accountability Commission does not get enough response, please list 10 per cent of the employees from all agencies that were highlighted in the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) report by Dr. Muzaffar Ahmed and detailed information may be sought about their wealth. This list of suspects will grow based on the abilities of the agency to handle cases.
8. The ACC must ask for more funds to recruit best of the best and more staff members
9. The ACC should set up a non-profit foundation and ask people for voluntary donations for financial sustainability.
10. New employees must report wealth data in the first working day
11. A conference in Bangladesh should be organised where Bangladeshi professionals living abroad, foreign experts, and local people would get together and devise policies to fight against corruptions.
12. The ACC should establish a strong research wing, staffed by a group of skilled researchers, to conduct its own studies, surveys, focus groups, generating reports and also to improve its performance through assessment, evaluation, monitoring and to build the organization based on the results.
13. The ACC must be guided or dictated on the basis of research findings, not by a bunch of bureaucrats and under government pressure.
14. The ACC should bring international experts to train its manpower. This will help save millions of taka for the nation in the long term.
15. The ACC may establish a media or public relations cell
16. The ACC must clean itself from corruptions before it cleans the nation
The writer is Director, Qatar University and Ex GS, CUCSU. He can be reached at E-mail: americamyland@gmail.com
The legal noose tightened around former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last week when, on July 31, the nation's Criminal Court found his wife Pojaman Shinawatra guilty of tax evasion, sentencing her to three years in prison in a decision. It is likely to increase already sharp political tensions in the country. Pojaman, her brother Bannaphot Damapong and her secretary Pennapa Honghern were found guilty of evading $16.3 million in taxes and providing false testimony in relation to a transfer of 4.5 million shares in Shin Corporation, the telecommunications conglomerate formerly owned by Thaksin and his family, in 1997.
In the UAE, Abdul Salam Al Marri, chief executive of the Lagoons - a project by Sama Dubai, a Dubai-government owned real estate developer, is facing probe.
Corruption in Bangladesh has been the number one national shame and disease. This is the first time in decades that this army-backed government has established an independent body to fight against corruption. The appointment of Gen. Chowdhury as the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was the most effective decision. Since his appointment as the chairman of ACC, Mr. Chowdhury has proved his strong leadership skills.
He has also created an impression that a goal-oriented, strong and honest leader could make a significant difference in every sphere of life. The ACC chairman's recent activities to uproot, prevent, and contain corruption are highly and very much appreciated in and out of the country. His innovative approach to develop and build organizations at the grassroots, support groups, and movement may be used in other developing countries.
These are effective means to prevent the future corruption. All of them also provide a huge psychological impetus to develop resistance against corruption in society.
It is very surprising to watch that our political parties and politicians are not much interested to talk about it. They are more interested in grabbing the power soon. Though this writer has heard that Awami League president Sk. Hasina stated that she would continue to fight against corruption if she would come to power, this scribe has not seen any organized actions by the Awami League leaders against corruption. BNP and Jamaat have not talked against corruption at all since most of the top leaders of BNP are accused of corruption and abuse. Other small political parties are talking about it, but it is not known what active role they are playing to assist the ACC or to develop awareness at grassroots against corruption. However, recent announcement by the Rajshahi Mayor to root out corruption from the Mayor's office is an encouraging sign for the country. He may be one of a very few politicians who had the courage to talk openly against corruption. In the given situation, the ACC chairman and his staff members are not enough to deal with the massive fraud, corruption and embezzlement that made us one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world. In Bangladesh, most of the politicians have no idea about how to run an administration efficiently.
Those, along with some government officials, looted the country. Most of the professionals and government officials made money through various illegal means. This scribe would like to say that most of the officials in the government's service-providing agencies (engineering, police, customs, taxes, housing and so on) are involved in corruption and abuse of power. Based on his observation, this writer would request the ACC to look into the following recommendations to continue its crusade against corruption:
1. Anti-corruption message must be included in our curricula
2. All non-government organisations (NGOs) must play a vital role against corruption
3. Voluntary support groups will to be built at the grassroots levels to work as 'watch groups'
4. All professional people (lawyers, enforcement agencies, judge, bank accountants, auditors and so on) will need to be involved to work against corruption.
5. Bangladeshis living abroad (who can intellectually and professionally get involved should be invited to make concerted efforts to help combat corruption
6. Voluntary groups abroad who may work and speak against corruption in and out of the country may be proved.
7. If Truth and Accountability Commission does not get enough response, please list 10 per cent of the employees from all agencies that were highlighted in the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) report by Dr. Muzaffar Ahmed and detailed information may be sought about their wealth. This list of suspects will grow based on the abilities of the agency to handle cases.
8. The ACC must ask for more funds to recruit best of the best and more staff members
9. The ACC should set up a non-profit foundation and ask people for voluntary donations for financial sustainability.
10. New employees must report wealth data in the first working day
11. A conference in Bangladesh should be organised where Bangladeshi professionals living abroad, foreign experts, and local people would get together and devise policies to fight against corruptions.
12. The ACC should establish a strong research wing, staffed by a group of skilled researchers, to conduct its own studies, surveys, focus groups, generating reports and also to improve its performance through assessment, evaluation, monitoring and to build the organization based on the results.
13. The ACC must be guided or dictated on the basis of research findings, not by a bunch of bureaucrats and under government pressure.
14. The ACC should bring international experts to train its manpower. This will help save millions of taka for the nation in the long term.
15. The ACC may establish a media or public relations cell
16. The ACC must clean itself from corruptions before it cleans the nation
The writer is Director, Qatar University and Ex GS, CUCSU. He can be reached at E-mail: americamyland@gmail.com