KABUL (SW): Civil institutions at a press conference said they are not worried about government delaying the preparation of an anti-corruption strategy, but the government's political approach to this strategy is alarming, here in Kabul on Tuesday.
The Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) along with Afghanistan Public Policy Research Organization (APPRO) and Equality for Peace and Democracy (EPD) and other civil society organizations blaming the government for not keeping its promises in combating corruption said the National Unity Government (NUG) is not serious about fight corruption.
Naser Timory, head of communication and advocacy at IWA, addressing the presser stated that the government's political dealing with the anti-corruption strategy will increase corruption. According to him, civil society has not been given the chance, the way government should have in developing the anti-corruption strategy.
But, Shah Hussein Murtazawi, the spokesman for Presidential Palace, rejecting the IWA’s views said the government has not politically taken any action against the developing of anti-corruption strategy.
According to the officials of these institutions, the lack of political will in the past few years has been the main reason for the weakness of the fight against corruption, and the power structure in Afghanistan has been strangely eroded over decades.
Meanwhile, Shah Hussein Murtazawi, the spokesman for the Presidential Palace, in a separate conference here in Kabul on Tuesday, announced that the High Council for Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption is in the final stages of preparing the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and by next week the strategy will be announced. He assured that the NUG has a strong political will in combating corruption in the country.
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