KABUL - Interior Minister Taj Mohammad Jahid late Saturday said more than 200 Ministry of Interior (MoI) officials had been arrested on corruption charges during a period of one year.
He said corruption existed in all government organs, but concerns about MoI pushed it to start a decisive fight against the menace.
Jahid, talking to the development board of the ministry, said corruption was widespread in all government organs including the MoI.
He called it a shame that the MoI was deemed corrupt by the Afghan people, so the ministry launched a campaign to resolve the issue.
Jahid said corruption in the MoI was affecting soldiers fighting on the frontline against militants. He said fighting corruption would help win people’s trust.
“Corruption and insecurity create problems for good governance, we understand the concerns of the government leaders, people and donor countries. It is part of our main efforts to fight corruption and ensure transparency,” he added.
He said more than 200 MoI officers including, 12 generals, have been arrested over corruption charges and misusing of authority in the past one year.
“These efforts are not enough, we should increase our efforts at improving and developing policies and mechanisms for fighting corruption and ensuring transparency and accountability,” Jahid continued.
He also expressed concern over lack of coordination among senior officials of the MoI and said: “Coordination among assistants and directors is very important, the government leadership has chosen you as basic cadres of the ministry.”
President Ashraf Ghani on May 8 called the MoI the heart of corruption while talking about graft in the security sector.
“Implementation of reforms in the MoI is one of current challenges for us, we know solving this challenge is not easy, but we have the will for it, corruption should be removed from police and police should be a force for stability, not a driver of unrest and people’s anger,” Ghani had said. He said there were also honest and clean police fighting on the frontline.
A number of other MoI officials, who participated in the meeting, called imaginary police, lack of advanced weapons, and low capacity of some commanders as main challenges of the ministry.
Resolute Support Chief of Staff Lieutenant Gen. Jurgen Weigt, who also attended the meeting, called police reforms as important. He said the MoI should be a great organ for law enforcement as expected by the people and international organizations.
“MoI should ensure order in this country and National Police Forces should offer strategic services to their country and people, it is also a demand of international forces,” he said.
He added the Afghans considered national police as a nonpolitical force so it should prove its efficiency and win people’s trust. (Pajhwok)