Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Administrative Corruption is the Mother of All Problems in Afghanistan

|

Administrative Corruption is the Mother of All Problems in Afghanistan

Nowadays, the administrative corruption has  become a hot topic in Afghanistan which not only drew the attention of politicians and media but also public concern in the country. In recent days, the president Ghani while speaking at the annual anti-corruption conference he ordered Masoud Andrabi, the acting interior minister, to arrest Zemarai Paikan, a former commander of the Afghan Public Protection Force, on charges of corruption. The president also informed of collecting 14 billion Afs from corruption perpetrators as an achievement within last few years. Meanwhile, the former chief of Afghan election commission and former member of Afghanistan's upper house was charged for corruption in America. Reportedly, Mr. Nooristani confessed of receiving of 100,000 USD social security allowances while he was out of the America. It is said that he might be sentenced for ten years in prison with paying 250 thousand USD as fine.

This comes after repeated corruptions reports and surveys disclosed by credible organizations such as Segar, Washington post, Asia Foundation and so on. According to Washington Post, corruption is the main factor of the US failure in Afghanistan. According to Asia foundation surveys, 81.5% of Afghan respondents in 2019 say corruption are a major problem in Afghanistan. On the whole, there is decisive unanimity that corruption is the mother of all problems in Afghanistan. According to experts, after insecurity, the corruption is the second most destructive phenomena have ruined the system in Afghanistan. However, corruption is the legacy of past autocratic governments in Afghanistan but it expanded during the war and resistance. In the new era, the extensive support of international community and lack of serious monitoring mechanisms have made the phenomenon of corruption an unbearable monster. This monster dominates in all public offices and social networks influencing people's daily lives and relationships.
Corruption not only is weakening the function of government institution and exacerbating the law-enforcement process, but also has formed an important triangle of crisis alongside terrorism and international trafficking networks. Corruption is the main way through which the enemy penetrates into the system and makes a tragedy inside the country. The minimum consequences of corruption include wasting national funds, breaking the law, increasing the distance between government and people, intensifying internal strife, promoting violence culture and formalize extremely weak and inefficient public institutions. It has been almost a decade that fighting against administrative corruption became more serious. This is mainly due to the international community's pressure on Afghan government to be more transparent and accountable to international aid spent in the country.

The previous government not only failed to take an effective step against corruption but also complicated the fighting process against corruption in the country. During the national unity government, it has neither produced positive and tangible gains. Therefore, corruption still remains a challenge against rule of law and the culture of meritocracy in the country. The main problem in fighting against corruption is that there is no serious mechanism against controlling corruption in the country and there is no official unit to register the property of all politicians in the country.  In other countries there is a specific office who registers the wealth of all residents, especially the politicians. Why not to do so in Afghanistan?
So far, more than ten independent anti-corruption agencies has been established in the country but none have succeeded either because they lack the will to fight or lack the ability to fight against powerful elements of corruption. We all know that the democratic system is the basis for saving the country and the people. If we fail to rescue the new democracy in Afghanistan no system will work in Afghanistan as already experienced.  Election is an important pillar of democracy and only successful way for power transition. Different personalities and teams try to test their social and political chance through the elections, but why do we face electoral controversy every year in Afghanistan?

The roots of these conflicts are knotted to corruption and misuses from the government property. The systematic misuses only occur when individuals are part of the government. In Afghanistan, remaining out of political power would mean beginning away from huge economic and financial resources. In addition, staying out of power may endanger their wealth collected illegally over the past years. Hence, it will be too hard to remain out of power, especially for those who had access to lucrative financial resources. They feel like drinking a poisonous cup that leaves their future in a dusty haze.

 The corruption addicted politicians who engaged in corruptions and public wealth have to use every tool to stay in power. They do not care about the country, national interests and the plight of the people; their real redline in Afghanistan is having access to government resources and preservation of their wealth and personal capital. Election controversy is not about respecting the law and fighting fraud. These are pretexts to deceive the public and justify the profit-oriented approaches of politicians who see the golden age of political and economic life ending.

Therefore, everyone believes that fighting against corruption must be decisive and it requires practical measures to control perpetrators of corruption at all levels. Thus, it is emphasized that the anti-corruption measures must be impartial, non-political and independent. The recent words of the president which started with action should be appreciated as good steps against corruption in the country. On the Anti-Corruption day, he stressed that his first priority is fighting against corruption and his word was also commenced with a serious action.

Mohammad Zahir Akbari is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at mohammadzahirakbari@gmail.com

Go Top