To Bring The Corrupt To Book
Put Teeth In CIAA’s Jaws

By Prakash Dahal

NIGERIAN President once worried at why his countrymen preferred foreign leather products to the Nigerian products. And, to find out the cause, he hired couple of foreign experts. They set to work and went to the manufacturers asking them why their products were of lower quality to that of foreigners.

Query

The manufacturer told them it was not their mistake but the butchers. The butchers bungled the job of slaying the animals and spoilt the leather. Now, they went to the butchers asking why they did the job badly. They said that it was not their mistake but ranchers. They ruined the leather by branding the animals with branding iron. The experts had no way but to go to the ranchers to ask why they did so. And, the ranchers replied that it was not their mistake either. It was the animals who rubbed their bodies against the barbed wire and bruised their skins.

Now the experts had nowhere to go but to the President. They unanimously told him that his cows were stupid.

Imagine if we hire foreign experts to find out the roots of corruption, what their conclusion might be? They would probably say, the cause lies in your soil.

Once former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was quoted telling that counter corruption responsibilities should be given to Transparency International (TI). Whether or not Deuba meant what he said but he didn’t keep his words. Had he assigned the TI, they wouldn’t have come better than the foreign experts asked to study the causes for failing market of Nigerian leather.

The other day, Commission for Investigating Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Commissioner, Indra Bahadur Sherachan, is quoted having said, " We are not capable in bringing the corrupt to the book." Sherachan, however, didn’t elaborate further explaining why the CIAA couldn’t do so. Other commissioners, however, made scathing remarks on government’s attitude towards curbing corruption. They alleged the government of deliberately wanting to defang the CIAA and empower the Special Police keeping it under its tighter grip.

Though their allegation may not be completely groundless, the CIAA remains a constitutional body which, when and if, truly empowered, can do things unpredictable and unprecedented to the dismay and embarrassment of some. The government ‘s failing to appoint the CIAA Chief for such a long period and the man who is supposed to hold the rein of CIAA being no where in the horizon could lend some amount of weight to the allegations made by the CIAA Commissioners.

CIAA cannot be said to be without problems. And, the government is not unaware of it. In fact, CIAA’s plight is similar to the citizen seeking right-to-express in a dictatorial regime where the dictator grants them the right to speak—but thrust cotton into his ears. CIAA undoubtedly has wings—but it seems it can’t fly because its wings are clipped. It knows who corrupt are, but it seems it has yet prove it. And, the reason why it can’t prove is that it can’t do so alone and needs honest and sincere cooperation from several other government agencies. If the noose should really be tightened around the neck of the corrupt, several agencies should stand hand-clasped against them.

CIAA has constitutionally provided rights to investigate and move the court against the suspect. But, does it have the mechanism, manpower, required sophisticated strategies and the resources required to pursue its mission and accomplish its goal?

If not, how and where can it acquire them from? How honestly, boldly, daring, and aggressively can the existing manpower, placed at the CIAA by the concerned authorities, go in seizing the corrupt by their neck? Can the civil servants/employees be expected to roll the heads of another colleague who rank high in office heirarchy? Can the same employees deputed at CIAA be secured enough against retaliation of the allegedly corrupt politicians? And, what if today’s CIAA personnel are pulled back at the government offices and replaced by others, will they still be safe?

The problem doesn’t end here. Even if the CIAA has the power and resources whereby it starts recruiting manpower by itself, curbing corruption could still remain a far cry. And, the reason is what if the government agencies do not cooperate. What has been proved from several studies and surveys is that corruption emanates at the higher echelons and goes down to the lower rungs of the heirarchy. A recent survey alleges that politicians and bureaucrats as the most corrupt in the country.

Much like the Texan phrase "all heads and no cattle," the CIAA has the noose but there are no necks around which it should be tightened. With the existing manpower, resources, mechanism and strategies, CIAA’s chances of proving any one guilty of corruption in the dock seem to be quite dim. They know the corrupt but somehow can’t strip their immunity in absence of evidence which is impossible for them to gather in isolation. They need the commitment not only in words but in action from all those agencies which work under the law enforcement arms of government. But, the commitment should come from the top, if corruption should really be discouraged, let alone eradicating it.

Will

The government should demonstrate will towards putting teeth in the jaws of CIAA by working in close, honest and sincere coordination with it. Because no foreign experts or consultants like TI or others, as Deuba said, can help us. They will certainly do a better study but the findings would be no better than the foreign experts’ finding about the quality of the Nigerian leather goods.

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