'Social, Family Pressure Major Reasons Behind Corruption'

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 03rd Jan, 2017 ) : Director General Awareness and Prevention Division of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Aliya Rashid Tuesday said social and family pressure wass one of the major reasons behind corruption in the country.

Delivering a lecture to the employees of National Highways Authority (NHA), she said there was a need to create awareness among women and children and convince them to play their role against the menace.

Women and children, she said, pushed their husbands and fathers to buy things such as cars, houses, mobile phones etc. just to compete with relatives or neighbours. "It is nothing but pushing a person sitting on a wheelchair to run.

As every man wants to become a hero in the eyes of his wife and children, they try to fulfill the demands of their family members by using fair and unfair means." "If we keep hammering the words 'Say No to Corruption' people will definitely help stop it," she added.

To prove her point, Ms Aliya narrated an incident that about two years ago she was walking in the F-9 Park when she came across four youngsters beating and abusing on another. "I started offering prayers near the youngsters.

Suddenly, I felt that the fight had stopped and one of the youngsters was asking the others not to make noise and not to try to pass in front of the aunty offering prayers." "It happened because mothers and grandmothers tell children to keep silent and pass in front while someone is offering prayers.

If we convince the mothers and grandmothers to tell their children that corruption should be stopped, it will surely work and the menace can be eradicated from society in a few years," she claimed.

Ms. Aliya said the message, "Say No to Corruption" had been written on postage stamps, utility bills, CNIC carrier papers, driving licenses, ATM, railway tickets, postal envelopes, airport screens and newspapers in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

A storybook, "Gogi Says No to Corruption and colouring books for Primary and secondary level have also been printed for children.

The message is displayed in all cinema halls too. She said that the ill effects of the menace of corruption have become one of the greatest challenges that every country is confronted with.

The developed countries, she said, had managed to reduce the size and scope of corruption to a minimum level through sustainable measures like building infrastructure but it was quite rampant in developing countries.

"In our own case, corruption and misuse of authority is the main challenge," he added. She said prevention was another effective tool to combat corruption and misuse of authority at any early stage before it happens.

Ms Aliya emphasized that women power against corruption could change the destiny of country. "Women who are wives and mothers can play imperative role to prevent their family members from indulging in corruption and decrease the financial social pressures on their spouses." NHA Chairman Shahid Ashraf Tarar, in his closing remarks, appreciated the guest speaker for creating awareness against the menace of corruption and forging a broader national consensus against it.

He said the NHA, being the premier public sector organization in the field of road construction had launched a comprehensive reform initiative to prevent malpractices in public procurement through higher standards of transparency and accountability in the entire chain involving procurement, construction and maintenance of development schemes.

This was accompanied with effective monitoring along with strict compliance with Public Procurement Rules, he said. He said that as a result of these reforms for the first time in organization's history, a substantial number of construction projects were undertaken at a cost much less than the engineer's estimates leading to an overall saving of Rs.

300 billion to the national exchequer. He also assured the NAB of NHA's complete support in the drive against corruption.