Desist from committing the blunder

WE think the government is headed towards making a mistake. For, it appears set for turning the ACC into an appendage to the executive, without the power to deal with corruption effectively. But during the roller-coaster ride of the ACC we have repeatedly reminded the government that a dis-empowered ACC cannot fight corruption. It should be structurally and functionally independent of executive control, subject only to accountability before parliament and acting on the basis of clearly laid out terms of reference, mandate and schedule of offences. Also, it should have built-in safeguards to stand untarnished by any partisan brush, regardless of changing of the guard.
The point need hardly to be laboured that corruption destroys social fabric, decimate moral texture of society and government, debase service delivery and eats into GDP growth making the national sense of loss and denial too grievous to bear. Thus, an independent ACC has been a longstanding demand of the people. During BNP rule it was still-born, the last caretaker government giving it a shape accompanied no doubt by a degree of highhandedness. But that extra-ordinary experience should not be allowed to cloud the vision for an empowered ACC in the normal run of governments. So, it should be clearly mandated and equipped to combat corruption which will be of long-term advantage to all democratic governments. In any case, an improvement in the TI global index of corruption that we have achieved is put down to the seriousness with which anti-corruption message got dinned in to the ears of functionaries during the caretaker government.
From the sweeping cabinet proposals for amendment to clip the ACC's powers, however, we get a signal that the government is not keen on fighting corruption. Actually, it appears that the bureaucracy has scored a victory over the political government because couldn't shake off past hang-ups. If this is the way the government plays into the hands of bureaucrats, it will strengthen the impression that the former is not serious in fighting corruption in high places because it has a stake in it. That will be the last nail driven into the coffin of whatever remains of the ACC.
It is difficult to shrug off the feeling that much the same way as the government succumbed to the pressure of MPs in dis-empowering the elected upazila parishads so also it is buckling under bureaucratic pressure to cripple the ACC. It should desist from committing this blunder; for, if done, it will cost the nation dearly.