Essay : Independent Anti-Corruption Commission

Independent Anti-Corruption Commission

Introduction : Corruption has become an enduring pattern of our public life. At present corruption is rampant in basic services, like healthcare, education, police, judiciary, land administration, taxation and power. It also affects the government, business community, political system, NGOs, financial sectors, etc. It is practically posing a threat to our democratic process. It is obstructing the operation of market forces, creating bottlenecks in the administrative system, preventing justice and fairness, discouraging the spirit of public services and impeding sustainable development. Multilateral donor agencies such as World Bank and UNDP estimate that 30 to 40 percent of development fund of Bangladesh are misappropriated by corrupt means. In fact, corruption has become synonymous to mis-governance in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been rated by the Transparency International as the most corrupt country in corruption in government, semi-government and non-government offices, education sectors, financial sectors and socio-economic organizations.

Prospects of Anti-Corruption Commission : When political leaders and officials engage in bribery and graft, they are accountable to an impartial judiciary called anti-corruption commission. With this end in view, the government of Bangladesh formulated independent Anti-office. This is unfortunate that even the donor agencies have clearly stated that it is not lack of resource, it is rather the weakness of institutions which is responsible for slow growth of Bangladesh economy. So long as politicization has already made the weak and inefficient bureaucracy almost non-functional. In a branded corrupt country like Bangladesh, how can we expect that a Commission consisting of three members and headed by a retired high court judge will be able to handle the tremendous task of controlling corruption in Bangladesh? It is difficult for us to believe that the Commission can take strong decision unpleasant to the corrupt people. The Commission declares that it would be able to bring significant improvement in the country’s corruption situation within a stipulated period. It has, however, not disclosed the strategy it desires to adapt to perform this extremely challenging task. It has, however, admitted that it would not be possible for it to root out corruption totally from the country though it can be reduced to a great extent.

Conclusion : We do not know the extent of satisfaction of the donor agencies in the establishment of the Commission. It depends on the quality of performance of the Commission. Despite defects and deficiencies in the Commission, we should not be totally disappointed if all concerned fully support the Commission and allow it to work smoothly, coolly and courageously so that it is not regarded as the poor substitute of the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC). Let the commission work independently to exercise its accountability to the democratic parliament as well as the constitution.