CORRUPTION

CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Ch. has vowed to eliminate corruption from the judicial rank and file and for that instituted a Complaint Cell under Justice Javed Iqbal where public could accuse a judicial officer with proofs . In another news report CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif formed a body to purge Food Department of corrupt officials. Other powers that be might follow suite and announce similar measures.  Laudable steps but frankly, rather tall orders. If the committees perform their task honestly there will be hardly any one left to run the departments. Musharraf, too, had thought of doing something similar but had to give it up admitting publicly that the magnitude of the corruption in the country was so huge that had he pursued the matter the entire administration would have come to a stand still. He, therefore, went for the top corrupt officials only.  I think eliminating corruption from our public offices is a gigantic task, though not unachievable. If I may suggest, there is simple way of doing it.  In our offices there is what I call the  ‘Vertical Alignment” of corruption. The booty is passed on to the higher ups who not only become accomplice to corruption but also protect their subordinates when apprehended red handed. A mock departmental inquiry by the very same officers is held and rarely, if ever, anyone is dismissed from the service.

In order to break this vertical alignment, the immediate officer should also be held equally responsible and charge sheeted for the same offence as committed by his subordinate. To catch a thief set a thief.  Let them  act as watch dogs over each other. Otherwise, too, an officer can straight away detect signs of corruption in his subordinate just by watching his life style. Officers could make “Social” calls upon their juniors to see if the person was living beyond his means. On the other hand the honest and dutiful officers and staff must be duly rewarded.  Such carrot and stick policy should go a long way in eliminating corruption. Lastly and most importantly, the remuneration, pay and allowances must repeat must be reasonably high enough so that no one feels the need to augment them illegally. Present pays and allowances are not enough for the lower grade salaried persons to make their both ends meet.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

30, Westridge-1

Rawalpindi 46000

Tel: (051) 546 3344