THIS is with reference to the newly elected government’s anti-corruption drive. The ruling party has promised to rid the country of the menace of corruption, bad governance and financial mismanagement and bring in much needed reforms in the bureaucracy.

The alarming level of corruption in public institutions means that the system of governance is in a sorry state and public sector organisations are not working properly. This is where the role of the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan can be strengthened.

Suffice to mention that the institutional framework of the AGP is based on the Westminster model. Under this framework, the National Audit Office is headed by an independent Auditor General (the AGP in our case) which submits annual audit reports to the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament.

This model is used in the UK and most of the Commonwealth countries. Moreover, in countries like France, Turkey, Brazil and Colombia, a Court of Audit is in vogue which becomes part of the judicial system, and tries those engaged in the misuse of public funds.

Similarly, in China the government has successfully used a public auditing mechanism in its fight against corruption.

Pakistan can learn from these countries and replicate the procedures which will not only lower the workload on anti-corruption bodies like NAB but also prove instrumental in saving losses of millions to the national exchequer.

Sheraz Ahmed

Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018

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