Disregarded legislation: Accountability commission an unmet promise of CoD signatories

Holders of Public Offices Bill was presented in 2009, but is still pending in parliament.

ISLAMABAD: More than four years down the line after the tabling of bill in 2009 to establish an autonomous National Accountability Commission (NAC) by Pakistan Peoples Party, an effective accountability law still remains an unfulfilled agenda in the parliament.

The ‘Holders of Public Offices (Accountability) Bill 2009’ was presented to replace a politically strained National Accountability Bureau with an autonomous NAC, but the issue still lies pending in the parliament.



It was in 2006, under the charter of democracy (CoD), when PML-N and PPP agreed upon the point that a neutral body is required in the country to function independently and without carrying any political agenda. However, now that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in power for more than three months, a policy to replace NAB with NAC is elusive on their agenda.

Majority of the PML-N lawmakers view this unmet promise as one of the greatest failings of the previous parliament. The NAC had been a hot topic during the last five years when PML-N in opposition was castigating the then ruling PPP for reneging on the commitment it made in the charter of democracy.

Former parliamentary affairs minister Babar Awan had tabled the ‘Holder of Public Office (Accountability) Act 2009’ in the National Assembly on April 15, 2009. The PML-N raised objections on the language and provisions in the draft and refused to accept it. The then premier Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced the government would bring the accountability bill before parliament after consulting all parties.

PML-N’s major demand was that the NAC should only be headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. However, the committee had decided that the slot should be held either by a sitting or retired judge or any person qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court.

The PML-N opposed even the immunity proposed in the bill for a wrong found to have been committed by a public office-holder in good faith. Removal of the clause was one of the two important proposed amendments out of 60 submitted by the PML-N, which were not accepted by the committee.

PML-N`s Anusha Rehman, currently serving as state minister for information technology had written notes of dissent on the proposed bill. Anusha while talking to The Express Tribune said that “our major difference with the PPP was over the appointment of judge as head of the commission,” she added that “When we saw the draft of the bill presented for final approval, it was not the same draft as agreed by the committee; the draft was altered at the last moment.”

PML-N’s Zahid Hamid, until recently the law minister told The Express Tribune that “PPP’s intent was not clear from the very first day, initially they were not willing to initiate legislation over the proposed accountability commission but when it was forcefully submitted by the PML-N, they started applying delaying tactics to the process.”

The government on October 9, 2012, introduced a new National Accountability Commission 2012 bill in the National Assembly amid strong protest from the PML-N after withdrawing the old Holders of Public Offices (Accountability) Bill, 2009. The said bill remained pending till the House completed its tenure earlier this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2013.