TI-Pakistan calls Holder of Public Office Act "National Reconciliation Act"

Demand for setting up of an Independent Accountability Commission 
Karachi, Pakistan, 27 April 2009 

The Holder of Public Office (Accountability) Act 2009, to repeal the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance 1999, is a vague bill, made only for the elected parliamentarians, and excluding civil servants, local government members, as well as armed services. It is actually a National Reconciliation Act, a continuation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance. The bill requires major modifications. It begins with a wrong notion, as it defines its aim to repeal the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, and to enact a new law of accountability. The purpose should be for establishing an Independent Accountability Commission to eradicate corruption, as it has been committed by the major political parties PPP, PML (N) and PML (Q), in their election manifesto in 2007. 

Syed Adil Gilani, Chairman Transparency International Pakistan said that this proposed law, if made an Act of Parliament, will allow corruption to flourish and the corrupt to enjoy its benefits without fear of prosecution. He said that the bill presented in the National Assembly is stated to be according to a demand agreed in the Charter of Democracy (COD), but, this is not the case. The COD calls for the Accountability of the NAB and other Ehtesab operators to identify and hold accountable the abuse of office by NAB operators through perjury and perversion of justice and violation of human rights since its establishment. It calls “to replace the politically motivated NAB with an Independent Accountability Commission, whose Chairman shall be nominated by the Prime Minister in consultation with the Leader of Opposition and confirmed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee, with 50 percent members from treasury benches and remaining 50 percent from opposition parties in same manner as appointment of judges through transparent public hearing.”