Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

WJ to Govt: don’t Whine, Move to Curb Graft

WJ to Govt: don’t Whine, Move to Curb Graft

KABUL - Some members of the Wolesi Jirga (WJ) -- lower house of the parliament -- on Wednesday criticised President Ashraf Ghani’s recent remarks on corruption while others commended his statement.
A day earlier, President Ashraf Ghani told the European Union’s anti-corruption conference in Kabul that many initiatives had been taken over the years to combat graft in Afghanistan.
However, the president regretted, corruption still haunted the Ministry of Interior (MoI), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and some other state institutions were still contaminated with graft.
He accused some government departments of creating hurdles to the anti-corruption effort of the government and said the MoI was a hub of corruption while appointments to MoFA were made on ethnic lines.
Fawzia Kofi, a lawmaker from Badakhshan province, said: “No leader could damage harmonious relations among different ethnic groups through inflammatory statements. Different small ethnic groups live in the country, where corruption exists in every institution.”
She believed fueling ethnic tensions amounted to pleasing the enemies of the country. She said corruption haunted every government institution and it was unfair to name two specific ministries.
Nader Khan Katawazi, an MP from Paktia province, said corruption was a reality and naming only two government institutions as the most corrupt did not mean that ethnic flames were being stoked.
Rehana Azad, a public representative from Uruzgan province, urged parliamentarians to stand by the government in the fight against corruption. All graft-tainted individuals be punished as per law, she demanded.
Nasima Niazi, another member of the house from Helmand, warned against giving the corruption issue an ethnic twist. The president, she said, spoken the truth, as a poor man’s son would never be appointed as a diplomat due to corruption in the foreign ministry.
Mohammad Nazir Ahmadzai, deputy speaker of the lower house, said the fight against corruption was the will of common Afghans and the issue should not be made ethnic.
He stressed the need for national unity and asked the president to take practical steps against corruption because the government was duty-bound to set things right, not to make a fuss. (Pajhwok)