Consensus on accountability without exception

[ajpirzada]

ISLAMABAD: A standing committee of the National Assembly approved on Wednesday the draft of a bill to replace the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with a powerful National Accountability Commission (NAC) to hold accountable public office-holders without exceptions.

Among the major proposals is the removal of the immunity enjoyed by members of the armed forces, the judiciary and parliament by defining public office as given in Article 260 of the Constitution, according to a draft of the National Accountability Commission Act, 2010.

The Standing Committee on Law and Justice, headed by PPP’s Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry, approved the draft after discussions spanning about a year.

“This is for the first time in the country’s history that all the political parties have reached a consensus that besides politicians and civil bureaucrats, members of the armed forces and judiciary will also be accountable,” said a jubilant Riaz Fatiana of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

Talking to Dawn after the committee’s meeting, he said there would be across-the-board accountability after the approval of the bill by parliament.

The PML-N opposed even the immunity proposed in the bill for a wrong found to have been committed by a public office-holder “in good faith”. Removal of the clause was one of the two “crucial proposals” out of about five dozen submitted by the PML-N which were not accepted by the committee. The body had been working on the bill since April last year.

The PML-N’s Anusha Rehman said the other major proposal, which had not been accepted, was that the NAC should be headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

The committee decided that the post should be held either by a sitting or retired judge or any person qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court.

Mr Fatiana said NAB would be dissolved after the new law came into effect and its assets and employees would be transferred to the NAC.

All cases being pursued by NAB will also be transferred to the NAC. However, the NAC will not carry out investigations against those accused of having committed any fraud before 1985.

Mr Fatiana said a majority of the committee’s members were of the view that it would be difficult for the superior judiciary to spare a full-time judge for the commission in the light of the judicial policy announced recently by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

He said the prime minister would not have discretionary powers to appoint the head of the accountability commission and his nominee would require the approval of an eight-member parliamentary committee having equal representation of the treasury and opposition.

The chairman will be appointed for three years.

The draft suggests that an official found guilty of corruption by a court after hearing a reference moved by the NAC will stand dismissed. Any elected representative or other public office-holder will be disqualified for contesting elections after conviction till five years after completion of his sentence.

It defines “holder of public office” as “a person who is, or has been, in the service of Pakistan as defined in Article 260 of the Constitution”.

The speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate have been made accountable through another clause of the proposed law.

The PML-N’s Anusha Rehman said she would submit dissenting notes on some clauses of the proposed bill.

When asked if her party would support the bill, she said: “We will see the draft of the bill when it will be presented before taking any final decision.” She alleged that the government had in the past changed some approved drafts at the last moment.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan had tabled ‘the Holder of Public Office (Accountability) Act, 2009,’ in the National Assembly on April 15 last year in the light of a promise made by the prime minister in his first speech after his election that NAB would be disbanded and an independent accountability commission set up in line with the Charter of Democracy.

The PML-N raised objections on the language and provisions in the draft and refused to accept it.

Later Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced that the government would bring the accountability bill before parliament after consulting all parties.

A copy of the draft bill was sent to the PML-N, which suggested more than 50 amendments.

The prime minister consulted PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on the draft law in January and asked the committee to expedite the process of reviewing it.

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Consensus on accountability without exception

 

[ajpirzada]

Accountability bill Dawn Editorial
Friday, 16 Apr, 2010

NWFP officially renamed as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa NWFP officially renamed as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ‘Accountability’ has been a much-abused word used in Pakistan mostly as an instrument of persecution in the hands of the government of the day. Ziaul Haq debased this noble concept, while the political regimes that followed, and later the Musharraf government, seemed to have taken a leaf from the general’s book.

Invariably, accountability was selective, and those willing to collaborate were either ignored, or adequately rewarded; those who resisted were made to suffer humiliation, jail terms and property confiscation. More regrettably, the armed forces’ personnel and the judiciary enjoyed immunity from prosecution. Against this background, the draft bill approved by a parliamentary committee on Wednesday seems to break new ground, for it doesn’t consider judges and generals to be infallible demigods with a licence for corruption. Approved by consensus by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice after a year’s deliberations, the draft bill defines a public office according to the constitution’s Article 260. This expands the proposed law’s net and ropes in those who indulged in financial corruption, misuse of powers and circumvention of law because they knew they enjoyed a carte blanche for crimes that ranged from financial shenanigans to human rights abuses.

Two other healthy features of the draft bill need to be noted. First, the National Accountability Commission that will replace the existing National Accountability Bureau will be headed by a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court or a person qualified to be an SC judge. Second, the prime minister will nominate the head of the NAC but the nomination will have to be approved by an eight-member parliamentary committee drawn equally from both sides of the aisle. This is a breath of fresh in Pakistan’s traditionally murky politics. The consensus on the 18th Amendment shows that the much-maligned politicians — often they deserved to be — are quite capable of working democracy and sinking party differences for the greater good of the people. The draft National Accountability Commission Act is a step in that direction. We hope it will have a smooth sailing through parliament like the 18th Amendment which the Senate passed on Thursday.

DAWN.COM | Editorial | Accountability bill

 

[ajpirzada]

such an important issue and no one interested
i guess my putting a thumbs up with this thread didnt work at all

 

[Creder]

hun vekho bhai ji

 

[naveed qaiser]

The draft bill to replace the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with a National Accountability Commission (NAC) is a useful step. During the last two decades, the accountability process has almost invariably been used to victimize opponents. Politically motivated cases instituted by the infamous Ehtesab Bureau headed by Saif-ur-Rehman during Nawaz Sharif’s second term keep reverberating in the courts to this day. Even if there was substance and supporting proof in these cases, the taint of the Ehtesab Bureau being patently partisan has diminished their credibility. Even the much-touted National Accountability Bureau (NAB) constituted during the Musharraf regime became non-credible after it was discovered to be solely persecuting opponents of the regime. Therefore, a new mechanism was in order. It would be wiser if all the cases, registered under so called NAB, quashed because no one contradicts that all these cases were fabricated and politically motivated. The bill must include strong punishment for those who engineered fake cases against political top brass.

 

[sparklingway]

I will have to look at the draft bill and see its complete details but the Dawn editorial has highlighted major parts.

Besides the issue of the effectiveness of this new accountability commission, the best thing to come out of this parliament’s legislative ideology has been the parliamentary approvals for major posts. It is certainly a breath of fresh air and much needed. Parliaments around the world approve and nominate people to the highest public offices. Our constitution lays down the duties for cabinet members (Ministers) but there aren’t any laid down duties for legislators. In order to reform their inactive duties, they were allotted the “development budget” for their constituencies (only to MNAs) in the late 80s to increase their role. This only led to increased involvement of MNAs in the administrative work in their constituencies and now they bully bureaucrats to work as they wish all the time. It is not the role of parliamentarians to oversee road construction or pursue school development projects; their duty is to legislate effectively and oversee implementation. Parliamentary oversight of government functionaries is indeed necessary and recent moves in this direction are quite promising. Besides the PAC, every standing committee should have the necessary powers to oversee audit reports of their respective areas and question bureaucrats over their performance.
As private member bills hardly see the light of day in our parliamentary procedure owing to complete party control over the legislative process, it is necessary that parliamentarians be allowed freedom to legislate.

The new judicial commission and this accountability commission is a step in the right direction. Other major posts like Chairman FBR, Attorney General of Pakistan, Auditor General of Pakistan, Services Chiefs, and Chairman FPSC etc. must be approved by parliamentary commissions as well. This will increase the role of parliament and lay down a system where parliamentarians aren’t just salary drinking machines, who fail to show up for assembly sessions, but rather become vocal parts of the government function. The equal treasury-opposition distribution is a highly appreciable step as well.