Editorial
Wealth statement from ministers, MPs
Let it be a real test of accountability
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has categorically stated that the government will start taking wealth statements from ministers and lawmakers beginning next month. By making this clear, he has basically conveyed a highly welcome piece of news to the public. For, it signals a much-awaited response to a long-felt need. It fills the void of a fundamental in the perceived accountability structure at the apex of the pyramid.
Actually, we stood as an odd democracy out in the list of democratic countries by not demanding declaration of assets, movable and immovable, from our ministers and legislators thereby making them fundamentally accountable to the system. The oddity was even more pronounced in our case since we featured atop the corrupt countries for a few years in a row. And, as if to corroborate this perception, successive elected governments, without being answerable themselves, chose to indulge themselves in the empty past-time of pressing corruption charges against each other in ludicrous charades.
So it augurs well to know that the government will have the ministers and MPs submit details of wealth, including tax papers, in July requiring them to update the same every year for the remainder of its tenure. From an analysis of such records the government will be in a position to compare the assets declared by an incumbent on entering an elective office with that while leaving it so as to afford a graphic picture of his or her wealth profile.
If effectively implemented, we believe, this step will go a long way in ensuring not just transparency and accountability of elected public functionaries which by itself is vital in the functioning of a representative government but also in working as a safeguard for good and credible governance which has been sadly missing so far.
But the key operative words are effective and judicious implementation. In the first place, what will make the process truly effective and help serve its purpose is a certain mechanism to scrutinise the details for their accuracy or veracity. The best would be to make the statements public, short of which, at least, the details need to be subjected to a scrutiny. Furthermore, on point of judicious implementation, the government should refrain from using the knowledge of wealth as a handle against anyone to keep him in line.
Actually, by undertaking the process, the government stands to benefit in many ways, not the least of which is through an enhancement of public trust in it and its credibility in eye of the people which can work as a sustenance kit for it.
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