International Anti-Corruption Day: ‘We need to create hatred against corruption’

Speakers at Sukkur IBA urge need for self-accountability in the country

SUKKUR: Corruption has turned into a cancerous growth and we need to curb it through coordinated efforts, said the director-general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Sukkur, Muhammad Altaf Bawany.

Speaking at a seminar, 'Accountability is the key to good governance', on the eve of International Anti-Corruption Day at the Sukkur Institute of Business Administration (IBA) on Wednesday, he said, gone are the days when the corrupt used to get no respect in society. "It is quite unfortunate that today the trend has changed and the corrupt are getting more respect," he lamented.

"We need to create hatred against such elements and, to achieve this goal, we have formed character building societies in educational institutions," he explained. "We have signed an MoU with the Higher Education Commission for a cohesive approach against corruption for the betterment of Pakistan," said Bawany.

Clarifying misconception about plea bargains, he said that under this culprits not only return the looted money to the national exchequer but also become ineligible for holding any public office for 10 years. Since its establishment in 1999, NAB has recovered Rs265.1 billion, while its expenditure has been Rs12 billion.



Sukkur Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Aamir Ghouri said the rulers were accountable to the people. "Now the people would not be able to ask a government functionary about his wrongdoings," he said, adding that government officials no longer interact with the general public. As far as the law of the land is concerned, he said it exists but these laws need to be implemented in letter and spirit. The only way to overcome corruption in our country is to start self-accountability, he claimed.

Sukkur DIG Dr Kamran Fazal Siddiqui said it is ironic that the poor are punished for small crimes but people with resources get away scot free. He said the most powerful caliphs of the early Islamic era   were within easy reach of the general public but now it has become almost impossible for the people to meet government officials. "To end the menace of corruption, we should keep our doors open for the general public for the redressal of their problems," Siddiqui explained.

"Corruption has deep roots in our society and together we must struggle to root it out," said Dr Rahim Bux Bhatti, director of the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences. In our society corruption is not new, it is a decades-old practice, he said. Bhatti added that earlier corrupt people used to feel some shame but now they feel nothing of the sort.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th,  2015.