Morung Express: Nagaland: Friday, August 25, 2017.
In support of
the upcoming public rally organized by ACAUT on the issue of corruption, I feel
it is my duty to share my understanding on the subject and also express my
opinion.
Since
statehood, corruption has always existed in Nagaland. In recent years though,
it has become wide-spread and brazen to the extent that the corrupt have become
shameless.
At present we
are in a precarious position of having an Assembly with no opposition party.
Many of our public organizations have also been co-opted into the corrupt
system. No proper checks and balances exist within our system. The result is
gross mismanagement of our State finances.
We are all
familiar with the phrase ‘power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely’. This is the unique situation in Nagaland.
During my
years as an active journalist and later Editor spanning the last 15 years I
have probably written more articles and editorials on corruption, clean
election and Naga political issue in comparison to other topics.
It needed a
movement like the ACAUT to finally ‘walk the talk’ that many of us—both in the
media, church and elsewhere had been expressing since the last two to three
decades but never had the courage and audacity—to confront head-on this monster
called corruption and the system that promotes it.
I want to
revisit a few ideas for the general public to consider during their rally
against corruption.
The first
thing we need to understand is the corrupt does not include only the
politicians or bureaucrats or that corruption cannot be solely blamed on them
alone.
As former
Chief Election Commissioner SS Gill in his book ‘The pathology of corruption’
points out, ‘entire sections of our public life have become corrupt.’
There is the
corrupt politician (neta), the corrupt bureaucrat (babu), the corrupt business
(lala), the corrupt NGO (jhola) and finally the criminal (dada). Besides the
above, in Nagaland we may also include the corrupt voters, armed groups and
church.
Let’s be
clear therefore that the bribe giver and the bribe taker are both guilty.
We need to
resolve and pledge for ‘zero tolerance against corruption’.
To put it
simply, Zero Tolerance means that no case of corruption will be tolerated and
the corrupt would be punished.
In Nagaland
corruption is a ‘low risk-high-profit-business’. The existing system does not
punish the corrupt and therefore there is no deterrence and fear against
corruption. We need to change this. But for that to happen the rule of law must
apply in Nagaland and those found guilty punished.
Demand for
an open and transparent government.
Open
Government is what is urgently required at this point. There is growing anger
and distrust over the present situation—the prolonged infighting among our
leaders for spoils of power, deplorable road condition, collapsing
infrastructure, insensitivity to public grievances etc.
Our Chief
Minister may have joined social media platforms to connect with citizens. But
this is not enough nor is it a priority. People want transparency and
accountability in his administration.
Information
is indispensable for the functioning of a true democracy.
Why do our
citizens have to run around filing RTI petitions? The RTI Act under Section
4(2) exhorts that voluntary disclosure of information by public authorities
should become so common “that the public have minimum resort to the use of this
Act to obtain information”.
A former
Central Information Commissioner once said “RTI Act serves best when the
citizens feels the least need to use it”. As head of the government, the CM
should in fact direct the officials and government departments to maximize
information (disclosure) in the public domain and thereby automatically promote
transparency.
As coined by
Prime Minister Narender Modi, we should also demand for ‘minimum government and
maximum governance’. For a small and resource crunch State like Nagaland we
cannot afford to have a jumbo sized ministry. The priority of the government
should be on corruption-free good governance, mobilizing resources for
development and curtailment of wasteful expenditure. With a comfortable
majority, our CM should downsize his ministry without waiting for court
intervention. Public will support him.
All of us are
aware that the tools to fight corruption include both legal and institutional
mechanisms. Let’s try and revisit two such institutions.
Since the
1970s we have the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) but it has not been able to
deliver, leave alone punish the corrupt. Rather than being an independent body
it remains subservient to the government of the day. The State Vigilance
Commissioner is a political appointee so unless the mode of appointment is
changed, the SVC will not be able to do justice in weeding out corruption from
all government establishments.
We need to
demand the independence of the SVC or else to disband it as there is no point
in wasting public money on something that has no value or function.
Next, the
poor quality of our development work has become a matter of concern for all of
us—high cost involved, stalled projects or substandard and poor quality. We
should demand to know from the Chief Minister on the state of the ‘Quality
Control Board’, appointed a few years ago to address the above concerns.
If I may
recall, the Quality Control Board, instituted by the previous Neiphiu Rio
government, was empowered to order an enquiry or investigation on any
construction project or on materials supplied…There was also the provision for
setting up of Quality Control Committee in each Department and also District
Quality Control Committee Levels to check, verify and inspect supplied
materials and also construction works.
Whether the
quality of development in Nagaland has improved or not, a report on the working
of the Quality Control Board is overdue.
If the
present government says that it is sincere in fighting the menace of
corruption, then the institution of the State Vigilance Commission and Quality
Control Board must be made more strong and enabling to take on corruption. At
present both appears to be below par in terms of motivation, independence and
direction.
Conclusion
The popular
notion that Nagas are corrupt and large scale extortion takes place in our land
only belittles our national aspiration to be an independent and sovereign
people.
Reforming our
socio-political systems is in our interest as we prepare towards greater
self-rule and sovereign decision making
Although the
Promised Land was God’s gift to the Israelites, they still had to fight and
conquer it. So kudos to ACAUT for their resolve in fighting corruption. May you
fight the good fight for what is right and just.
(The writer
is a former Editor and senior journalist)
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