Democracy is all about accountability and by strengthening anti-corruption structures democracy can be further strengthened in Pakistan, a policy symposium organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) observed on Wednesday.
The policy symposium on “Anti Corruption Strategy: A Civil Society Perspective” was held to discuss the socio-economic, political and developmental cost of corruption and the emerging policy options to overcome it.
Ambassador (R) Shafqat Kakakhel, a member of the board of governors of SDPI initiated the proceedings by presenting welcome remarks and said that the country was going to polls in the next few months so there was a need to bring accountability in the agendas of political parties”.
He also announced the formal launch of a comprehensive anti-corruption programme by SDPI to rid Pakistan of this menace “which had robbed the people and deprived them of benefits of freedom, justice and prosperity for so many decades”.
Speaking at the occasion, former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shams-ul-Mulk said that the governments in Pakistan were never the ‘true representatives’ of the people and were not interested in introducing accountability mechanisms. Professor Robert Klitgaard of Claremount University California was of the view that Pakistan was a country full of potential where weak governance and lack of accountability was hampering development.
Syed Kamal Shah, former interior secretary, spoke of addressing gaps in the anti-corruption framework by breaking the nexus between state departments and the influential who colluded for their private gains at the expense of public resources.
Dr Kaiser Bengali, a renowned economist and former advisor to CM Sindh pointed out the gross inequalities in the society which was a major factor in adding to the prevalent corruption in Pakistan.
Sakib Sherani, former economic advisor of the Ministry of Finance, proposed systemic disclosure of government information which he said was extremely important for governments to show their commitment to transparency, rule of law and accountability.
Brigadier (R) Musaddiq Abbasi said corruption in Pakistan was system centric and there was a need to build public ownership of public money. Briefing on micro-level accountability, he suggested introducing prevention regimes focused on public education, information and the ability to understand, monitor and engage public sector activities to ensure greater accountability and service delivery.
He also suggested greater autonomy and constitutional protection for accountability institutions.
PILER Executive Director Karamat Ali discussed anti-labour and anti-people practices of businesses and gross violations of state laws. He referred to Baldia factory fire incident in which 250 workers were burnt alive, which he said was operating despite brazen violation of all state rules.
“This was a classic example of crony capitalism and its collusion with state institutions,” he added. He suggested people to organise themselves to counter systematic corruption.