On Thursday, July 26, President Hamid Karzai came up with a step that is counted the first of its kind in the last ten years to curb corruption and bring reforms in Afghanistan. In a decree, Mr. Karzai has ordered certain key ministries and other government bodies to take specific measures for elimination of corruption in them and report within a fixed deadline (in months) to the presidential palace.
Karzai has ordered central ministries, prosecutors and judiciary to fight bribery, nepotism and cronyism. Karzai's 23-page decree also instructs officials to clear the Attorney General's office and the courts of languishing corruption-related cases and do more than talk about bringing crooked figures to justice.
The initiative by Karzai has been called 'ridiculous' by Afghan parliament. According to the MP's, the decree is a measure to deceive the people of Afghanistan and the international community. With the serious challenges facing the Afghan government, it can not clean itself of corruption within the short time provided in the decree.
Corruption that has grown so deep in Afghan government system in the last ten years would need not months but years to be eliminated. And that is only possible if the government has strong political will to make it possible. At the same time, the head of High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOO), Azizullah Lodin, said on Saturday, July 28, that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's attempts to reform the government will be in vain if corrupt officials are not sacked.
In the Tokyo conference this month the world pledged $ 16 billion of aid for Afghanistan. Nonetheless, Afghanistan would only able to receive those funds if its government takes effective measures to tackle the rampant corruption that has hampered all sorts of security, political, economic and social developments in this country.
Apparently, Mr. Hamid Karzai who is under high international and domestic pressures to bring accountability, transparency and most importantly some very vital reforms in his government is trying to exhibit that now it is getting serious to alleviate corruption and correct things that have been going wrong in the last ten years.
The attempt by Karzai will not yield any fruitful result as his decree comes too late at time when the Afghanistan is nearing to crucial process of presidential election and complete withdrawal of NATO forces.
As various political and non-political circles have urged President Karzai must start his anti-corruption campaign by cleaning the government first. Then he has to go for expelling known corruption individuals who enjoy authority and power within the society.