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The federal government has taken to parliament once again the issue of replacing the National Accountability Bureau.—AFP/File
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IN an unexpected but welcome move, the federal government has taken to parliament once again the issue of replacing the National Accountability Bureau with a new statutory body to combat corruption among holders of public office.
While the NAB still limps on — on Tuesday, its executive board has announced investigations into, among other issues, allegations of corruption by the chairman of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, a former chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan and officials of the sales tax department — it is a body that for all intents and purposes no longer has either the moral mandate or necessary financial and legal resources to combat corruption and promote accountability at the national level.
That the PML-N has announced it wants a consensus inside parliament on the new accountability law will further boost hopes for a fair, transparent and powerful new accountability commission, especially if parties such as the PTI are also brought on board.
There remains, though, a gap between what the government, and the PPP, says it wants to do and what it may end up doing. In the last parliament, where the PPP and PML-N’s roles were reversed, there were at least two attempts to replace the moribund NAB with a new statutory accountability organisation but, after most of the details had been extensively negotiated on, neither the PPP nor the PML-N seemed quite able to get the job done.
While both sides will contend that it was less a disagreement over fundamentals and more about how the new organisation should be structured that thwarted a final agreement, the suspicion remains that the two parties were unable to resolve their differences because ultimately it was not in their interest to do so, and clearly was never a priority.
Will this time be any different? The PTI, if it does return to the National Assembly as seems likely, could be another complicating factor, now. While the PTI’s input could lead to a more muscular and independent accountability commission, the party has a tendency to undermine negotiations with its abrasive approach.
It remains to be seen whether the cooperative PTI or the populist, politician-baiting PTI will appear at the negotiating table — if the government does move ahead with the new bill presented in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Finally, there is a broader issue here: much as an accountability commission is needed, that very need suggests the system itself requires overhaul.
Be it the judicial system, checks and balances within government departments or the regulatory framework for how government and the private sector interact, little works as it should — which is why accountability is such an overarching issue.
How much would corruption be reduced and accountability promoted if the normal systems of oversight were also to be strengthened? Parliament would do well by looking beyond just creating a new accountability commission.
Published in Dawn March 26th , 2015
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