ACC reform report: Questions and commendations

Among the many initiatives undertaken by the interim government, the Anti-Corruption Commission report was one of the most anticipated and awaited. Given the extent of corruption during the rule of the past government and the abject failure of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), this had become an essential matter. There are allegations that the government had even taken it upon itself to protect the corruption persons. Accordingly, a reform commission was formed with Dr Iftekharuzzaman as the head and the commission had come up with around 47 reform proposals.

Some of the proposals focussed on preventing corruption within the state and some on corruption within ACC itself. Short-term, mid-term and long term plans were put forward for the implementation of the proposals. The reform report held many important implementable proposals, though a few proposals may not seem that easy to implement in the Bangladesh context.     

The issue given most importance in this reform report was strengthening institutional independence. For example, the plans for the proposed reforms included a significant proposal to keep ACC free of political and administrative influence. It was recommended that appropriate policies be made and implemented to ensure that ACC can conduct its investigation and judicial procedures independently. It planned on enacting strong laws to ensure transparency by means of that a synthesis between the court and philosophical institutions. It laid stress of openly submitting regular reports and increasing public participation in government programmes in order to ensure transparency and accountability. It also recommended sharing of information in order to increase coordination between the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and other agencies. The proposals to set up district level offices, taskforces and high-powered inquiry teams to increase coordination, were truly commendable.

It also spoke of increasing institutional capacity by means of recruiting skilled workforce. The initiative to establish a training academy to increase efficiency of the workforce will certainly be a timely intervention. There was call for special training to use advanced technology to conduct investigations and cases. It is also significant that these proposals are congruent with the UN Convention against Corruption which will help Bangladesh in the future to work with Open Government Partnership (OGP). It will be a hugely significant step if Bangladesh can sign the Open Government Partnership, (the multilateral initiative aimed at securing commitments from national and sub-national governments to promote open government, combat corruption, and improve governance). When OGP is signed, the signatory countries are obliged to ensure full transparency in their various activities and this leads to structural changes in institutions, which held in the prevention of corruption. I feel that if the short and long term plans in the commission's recommendations can be implemented, this will usher in a new chapter of preventing corruption in Bangladesh.

When it comes to complexities, changes in the law may prove complicated. Sweeping changes in the law will be required to implement many of the proposed reforms. For example, amendment of Article 32 (A) of the constitution will certainly be met with opposition from the political and administrative front. Also, it takes a long time to create laws pertaining to establishing a new court, plea bargaining and such. It may not be possible to prepare and implement this out in just a five-year term. The plea bargaining and establishment of special court are likely to be met with resistance from the judiciary. The case jams and slow pace of trial processes may delay the reforms. The second problem is finance. A considerable budget will be required to establish a district-level office, create communication and use new technology.

It will also be difficult for the government or ACC to arrange the funds for performance bonus of the employees and other financial facilities. And coordination with NBR or CID will require extensive reforms of the relevant institutions. After all, it has been seen in certain instances that when corruption allegations are brought about against officials of these institution, the lack of coordination leads to complex tangles. In the past too it has been seen that these institutions are reluctant to share information with each other.

Another area of concern in ACC is the propensity to hamper initiatives to address the risks of corruption and inefficiencies within ACC itself. The beneficiaries of the old system will invariably resist the new changes. The ACC employees may development an anti-reform mindset. At the same time, the bureaucracy and political circles may also create resistance. After all, the large instances of corruption in Bangladesh are controlled mostly by the nexus of bureaucrats, businessmen and politicians. So it is a matter of consideration as to how far such radical changes will be possible in face of such powerful quarters.

Bangladesh requires a specific roadmap to prevent corruption, just like the Jakarta Declaration or Jakarta Plan of Action which was adopted in 1998 at Asian Development Bank's anti-corruption forum in Jakarta, Indonesia. This declaration presented a roadmap to prevent corruption by means of 16 detailed steps. Several of these issues have been mentioned by the reform committee. But continuity is key for these measures.

So, political consensus is essential for the reform of ACC and all anti-corruption reforms. No proposals can be implemented without political will. There the first task will be to make appointments on the basis of recommendations from qualified persons who are acceptable to all and then to speedily settle certain important cases. This may restore people's faith in ACC. After all, people's trust in ACC had plummeted and reached the nadir.

Also needed is a transparent recruitment process as well training of a certain smart officials who will speedily settle the important cases. Whenever ACC takes any visible action, social pressure is created on the people and that will serve to accelerate the process of implementing those measures. As a result, it will be possible to implement the issues mentioned in the report, one after the other. It will be possible in this manner to prevent corruption and reform the government system by means of political consensus and effective measures.

*Nurul Huda Sakib is a professor of the Department of Government and Politics at Jahangirnagar University.           

 *This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir