Roundup: Afghan newspapers cautiously welcomes president's anti-corruption decree
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E-mail Xinhua, July 28, 2012
Roundup: Afghan newspapers cautiously welcomes president's anti-corruption decree
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Afghan newspapers on Saturday cautiously welcomed the presidential order to fight corruption and bring reforms in government bodies. "At last, the president issued order for wide-ranging reforms; but the question is how far this decree is effective in fighting corruption and ensuring good governance," the daily 8Subh or 8am morning writes in its editorial.
President Hamid Karzai in an ambitious decree posted on Presidential website on July 26 listed good governance, effective war on corruption, rule of law and economic sufficiency as top priorities of his government.
In line with the decree, cases against the individuals detained by police or investigated by the Attorney General Office (AGO) have to be disposed of on a fast-track basis.
In the 33 chapter and 164-article decree, the high ranking officials were ordered to refrain from nepotism in recruiting staffs. It also emphasized to halt land-grabbing practice by anyone. The decree also tasked the security bodies to collect unlicensed arms and probed all parallel organizations in the country.
Billions of U.S. dollars have been injected into Afghanistan since the collapse of Taliban regime in late 2001. However, the country is still the poorest nation in the world. In addition, Afghanistan reportedly has also ranked among the most corrupt nations in our globe.
The presidential order was issued just weeks after the international community renewed pledge to Afghanistan at the recently held Tokyo Conference.
To help Afghanistan stand on its feet, the international community pledged another 16 billion U.S. dollars at Tokyo conference on July 8 for the next four years. However, the donor nations conditioned that the money is not misused by officials.
The decree also instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look in coordination with relevant state organs into the affairs of all Afghan diplomatic missions across the world.
Expressing skepticism over the implementation of the decree, the daily 8Subh writes in its editorial"It is too late to implement the decree as it was issued after a decade and now the president has little time to implement".
Another newspaper, the English Daily Outlook, has also looked with pessimism towards the accomplishment of the decree. "Given the 10-year track record of the government, the reforms were unlikely to be implemented in months,"Kabul University professor Ahmad Zia Rafat was quoted by the Daily Outlook as writing.
The decree is an attempt to convince the international community that the president is serious about enforcing much needed reforms, the newspaper said.
In compliance with the directives, the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption will keep an eye on strategic benchmarks put in place by public and private sector entities to combat graft. As part of the drive, the watchdog will have to probe questionable assists of government functionaries and officials with the non- government organizations (NGOs).
While welcoming the decree, the daily Mandegar newspaper questioned the modality of its implementation. "How is it possible to achieve such a great goal within six months while have failed to do in 10 years," said an article entitled "Appropriate decree but impossible"carried by the newspaper. Enditem
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