Public servants' wealth statement: What next?

The deadline for public servants to submit their wealth statements ended last Saturday. Last October, the interim government led by Dr. Yunus ordered public servants to declare their assets, presenting the move as a means to curb corruption and promote accountability. On the surface, it appears to be a bold step to identify civil servants who have abused their positions to accumulate wealth beyond their means. This was a cause for hope for average citizen as well. They are well aware of corruption in many government offices and weary of witnessing lavish lifestyles of officials whose salaries are paid with taxpayers' money. Display of wealth by some public servants with luxury cars, opulent homes and million-taka goat purchase fuelled the perception that public service is often a path to personal enrichment.

However, while the idea of holding public servants accountable for their wealth is appealing, the question remains: can such an initiative realistically achieve its goal, or will it simply be another hollow ritual? History offers little reassurance about its prospect for success. During the 2008 caretaker government similar attempt at wealth declaration was made which yielded no tangible results. Likewise, before each national election, numerous incumbent party candidates routinely submit their wealth statements, often revealing exponential increases in assets over short periods. Yet it rarely leads to any meaningful scrutiny or consequences. The problem is not new, nor is the solution untested. The system, it seems, is not designed to work.

Just look at the logistical challenges. Over 1.5 million government employees manually submitted their wealth statements by February 15. Who will scrutinize these millions of pages? How many person-hours will be required for such a manual check? The most likely scenario is that these forms will be passed from desk to desk, eventually ending up in some forgotten archive.

The design of the wealth statement form itself is also problematic. The forms require government employees to list assets at their acquisition values, which opens door for manipulation. Just as in income tax returns, individuals can easily understate the actual cost or claim assets were acquired as gifts. A crucial improvement would have been to include a column for the approximate current market value of assets to allow for a more realistic assessment. If such a measure had been incorporated, authorities could have established a threshold for closer scrutiny, selecting wealth statements that exceed a certain net worth for further verification. Unfortunately, this was not done.

The government has yet to outline its plan for processing the collected statements. In this digital age, the manual submission of forms seems remarkably antiquated. Had the information been collected through a digital platform, analyzing and verifying wealth statements would have been much easier. Since that opportunity has been missed, the only viable alternative is to digitize the data now. While a cumbersome process, it's the only way forward if the government is serious about scrutinizing these declarations.

Of course, some employees will not provide an accurate account of their wealth simply because they cannot justify their sources of income. But this underscores the need for robust investigative mechanisms to uncover discrepancies and hold wrongdoers accountable.

Government employees are citizens of the people's republic, and while large percentage of them are not corrupt, the system they operate within enables corruption. The root of the problem lies in the flawed ecosystem - from hiring and transfers to promotions and procurements - that allows corruption to flourish unchecked. Until these underlying issues are addressed, even punishing a few corrupt public servants would do little to stem corruption. As the saying goes, you cannot destroy a culture by destroying some of its adherents.

The wealth declaration exercise, in its current form, risks becoming nothing more than a symbolic gesture unless authorities digitize those disclosures into centralized database and act on it. Simultaneously, the government must also mend its broken bureaucratic system that perpetuates corruption. Only then will asset disclosures be effective and public servants truly accountable to the people they serve.

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