By Along Longkumer | EMN
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.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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)
