Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Some members of the Wolesi Jirga voiced Wednesday against President Ashraf Ghani’s recent remarks on corruption in the country.
President Ghani had told the European Union’s anti-corruption conference in Kabul that many advantageous measures had been taken over the years to overcome the ongoing graft in the country.
The president also acknowledged corruption in the ministries of interior and foreign affairs as well as some other institutions.
Ghani blamed some government departments for creating hurdles for the anti-corruption efforts of the government, saying that the interior ministry remains the “heart of corruption”.
He furthered that appointments in the foreign ministry had been conducted on ethnic basis.
Fawzia Kofi, a lawmaker from Badakhshan province said: “No leader could damage harmonious relations among different ethnic groups through inflammatory statements. Different small ethnic groups live in the country, where corruption exists in every institution.”
She believes that fueling ethnic tensions leads to pleasing the enemies of the country.
“Corruption has affected every institution of the government while naming two specific ministries would be an unfair attempt.”
Nader Khan Katawazi, an MP from PaktiKa province, said corruption is a reality and naming only two ministries as the most corrupt did not mean that ethnic flames were being stoked.
Rehana Azad, a public representative from Uruzgan province, urged parliamentarians to strengthen shoulders of the government in the ongoing fight against corruption.
She demanded, any individual, involved in corruption must be punished as per laws of the country.
Nasima Niazi, another member of the house from Helmand, endorsing the President Ashraf Ghani’s remarks regarding corruption, warned the corruption issue in the mentioned ministries could not be dressed as an ethnic twist.
The president, she said, spoken the truth, as a poor man’s son would never be appointed as a diplomat due to corruption in the foreign ministry.
Mohammad Nazir Ahmadzai, deputy speaker of the lower house, said the fight against corruption was a general demand of common Afghans, adding that the ongoing fight against corruption should not be made ethnic issue.
He emphasized on the need of national unity and asked the president to take practical and result-oriented steps against corruption because the government was duty-bound to set things right, not to make a needless worry.
