The National Council is recommending the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to upscale awareness programmes on election-related corruptions ahead of the third Local Government elections scheduled for next year. The annual ACC report 2019 recorded the highest complaints against the local governments. The Commission had received 104 complaints against the local governments in the past years.
The Good Governance Committee of the National Council said with the third local government elections nearing, it is important to sensitise public on electoral related corruptions. The annual ACC report showed that of the 104 complaints against the local governments, 66 were on abuse of functions, three on embezzlement and one on bribery. 39 complaints were related to resources, 12 related to contracts, and seven related to natural resources.
The committee reported that the highest number of complaints against the local governments is contradicting the outstanding score the local governments received in the National Integrity report 2019.
Therefore, the committee recommended the ACC to reconcile any contradictory findings of two or more reports that it publishes.
“The committee recommends the ACC to accord equal emphasis on proactive measures by identifying agencies/individuals with a high risk of involving in corruption and make timely interventions. We also recommend that the ACC reconcile any contradictory findings of two or more reports. For example, the National Integrity report 2019 indicates outstanding rating for local governments while the corruption complaints received against LGs as per the annual report reflect highest,” said Sangay Dorji, the Chairperson of the Good Governance Committee at the National Council.
The committee also recommended the ACC to set clear criteria for selection of gewogs and agencies to conduct advocacy programmes based on immediate need.
The Good Governance committee also recommended ACC to conduct a periodic impact assessment of the advocacy programmes in behavioural changes of the target group.
The committee proposed eight recommendations for the ACC which the House adopted unanimously. All the 23 members present voted to adopt the recommendations.
Samten Dolkar & Phub Gyem
