Corruption in bureaucracy is higher than politics and public, and accountability system of the country has failed to curb nepotism and cronyism. These comments were made at the end of six-day training course on 'Development and Accountability' organised by National Centre for Rural Development here on Saturday in which 35 government officials from all provinces and National Bureau of Accountability took part. The main objective of the training was to create awareness in government officers for strengthening transparent accountability mechanism to curb corruption.
The participants said that bureaucracy enjoyed supreme power and corruption could be detected through transparent accountability mechanism. They said that complicated governance procedures and lack of transparency "lead to failure" of accountability process.
It was brought out that low salaries of government servants were the main reason for corruption in government offices. Hence, it was suggested that salaries of the staff should be increased.
Accountability and good governance are essential for economic uplift as Pakistan is a leading victim of corruption. Minister of State for Local Government and Rural Development Zafar Iqbal Warriach and Director General, National Centre of Rural Development Muhammad Ashraf also addressed the closing session.
Zafar Iqbal said that the government has decided to introduce 'performance incentive system' to reward efficient officials, improve delivery and eliminating delay in decision-making and disposal of business through enhanced administrative and financial authority.
He said that South Asian countries nowadays are facing serious challenges of good governance, which is necessary for accountability of any person.
He said that accountability should start from self-assessment and evaluation and it should be across-the-board, free from political bias.
Ashraf said that the state and civil society "are responsible" for creating a conductive political, legal and economic environment for building individual capabilities and encouraging private initiatives.
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