Anti-graft body

Today, after two years of dilly dallying, the ruling party led parliamentary standing committee has asked for three more months to present the bill to the Sangsad. A quick examination of the whole process will clearly indicate the basic insincerity of the ruling party to get this body operational. First, it took more than a year and half to get the draft bill right. Once the cabinet approved it in June 2003, the draft bill was placed before the House in July, which duly sent it to the Standing Committee on Law and Parliamentary Affairs for the necessary examination and vetting within 15 days. The Committee never sat within that allocated time and asked for 10 days more. In the meantime, the draft was subjected to widespread and vehement criticism because of the provisions of two ministers being members of the six -member selection committee.

Then the Committee met in September and decided to consult the civil society-- for all this period the government did not bother to talk to anybody other than themselves--as there was so much criticism made of the draft. A roundtable was held on October 23 which made clear and elaborate suggestions as to what the public desired the draft to contain. Now, almost a month after that, the Standing Committee asked for and got another three months' time, meaning that the bill is unlikely to be placed before the next session of parliament.

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There is an obvious gap between the government's proclaimed policy and what it does for fighting corruption. And if the delay in forming this body is any indication of its real intention, then we can forget about this extremely essential watchdog body for the foreseeable future.