transparent elections for democracy editorial - transparency international pakistan · 2018. 7....
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XXVVXVI, JULY 2018
Transparent Elections for
Democracy
"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection
that your vote is never lost”- John Adams
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XXVVXVI, JULY 2018
Editorial
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Importance of Free and Fair Elections in a Democracy.
The end of this quarter marks the successful completion of the second quarter of Anti-Fraud Hotline eighth year.
Transparency International Pakistan organized a debate competition to promote the project titled “Promoting Democratic Values Amongst Youth”
“Organizing free and fair elections is more important than the result itself”- Fatos Nano
TI Pakistan’s Activities:
TI Pakistan organized a free legal advice camp (Mobile ALAC) in district Pishin and District Bhawalnagar.
TI Pakistan conducted Citizen Report Card Study on Education services provided by the provincial government in district Swat and Lower Dir.
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XXVVXVI, JULY 2018
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Pakistan will mark its second
successful transition of democratic
government on 25th July 2018, as
she heads towards her 15th General
Election. For Pakistan to be a truly
democratic country, it is
fundamental that the citizens have
the right and freedom to choose
their representatives in a free and
fair manner.
The electoral process can be made
free and fair by granting civil
liberties to the citizens to cast their
vote. Voter turnout in 2013 General
elections was around 55% which
ranked Pakistan amongst the
bottom four countries in terms of
voter turnout. More importantly,
women and minorities in rural
areas are largely marginalized or
express their views freely, they
become disenfranchised as their
rights and interests are disregarded.
Citizens will not be able to elect the
leaders of their choice if opposition
is suppressed and unions are not
formed. Thus, without transparent
electoral process their grievances
will go unheard.
Importance of Free and Fair Elections in Democracy
Editor: Ms. Tooba Waseem. Cartoonist: Mr. Zahid Gara
manipulated by political parties into casting vote. The voter turnout of women in 2013 was 40% of the overall votes, which though unprecedented but is still significantly less. For democracy to survive it is crucial that the will of people prevails. But with less voter turnout, how can the country’s citizens execute their will? Women from rural areas are discouraged from participating in electoral process due to patriarchal mindset. The men in rural districts sign an agreement to not let women vote which restrict women’s liberty to cast vote, and thus they lose an opportunity to practice their legal right in a democratic state. Civil liberties, therefore, become important as they are cardinal means to encourage participation in electoral process and ensure.
that democracy prevails.
Free and fair elections are important to lay down the necessary foundation of good governance. Pre-poll rigging and manipulation in electoral process result in lack of transparency and biasness. Thus, the right and deserving candidates lose their vote while the corrupt ones thrive. Thus, good governance can prevail when democracy is sustained through well-functioning institutions that work within their constitutional domains to make the electoral process transparent and fair.
To conclude, free and fair elections are fundamental because citizens raise their voice with a vote. If general public is discouraged to participate in elections or cannot express their views freely, they
XXVVXVI JULY 2018
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With the end of this quarter, Anti-
Fraud Hotline has successfully
completed the second quarter of its
eighth year. AFH has thus far
played a pivotal role in ensuring
transparency and prevention of
corruption in the utilization of the
USAID funds. The activities of
AFH consequently help facilitate
the distressed and deprived
citizens, by ensuring that relief and
development resources reach the
intended beneficiaries.
In the reporting quarter, AFH
received over 2916 calls, and as a
result 87 complaints were
registered. Since its inception in
January 2011, AFH has effectively
handled over 99,326 calls which
have resulted in the successful
formulation of around 8200
complaints. The remaining number
of calls included inquiries about
USAID projects and activities in
Pakistan, complaint status
requests, complainants calling to
update complaints, calls that are
for general information and wrong
numbers etc.
For quality assurance, the
complainant is quizzed through a
rigorous process regarding the
allegations he/she has made in the
complaint. The complainant may
be called a number of times to get
further information or documents
to back up the allegations as it is in
hotline’s best interests to provide
OIG with information that is
accurate. During the reporting
period the highest number of
complaints involved
programmatic issues in service
delivery.
This quarter, AFH handled 2916 calls, and as a result 87 complaints were
registered. Since its inception, AFH has effectively handled
over 99,326 calls
Since its inception the hotline continues to provide OIG with useful information and insight into alleged
corruption cases in various projects across the country and these investigations have thus far lead to recoveries of
funds worth Millions of U.S $ and terminations of corrupt employees of various organizations. Due to this
resounding success in achieving Hotline’s objective, an agreement was signed between USAID and TI Pakistan in
September 2017 to extend the project for another two year
The AFH complaint management cell employs multilingual trained complaint management officers, who receive
complaints through toll free hotline, sms, whatsapp, email, website, and walk in complainants. After a careful
revision and assessment the complaints are reported to OIG, who is the only agency authorized to view the
complaints, and this ensures integrity of the complainant’s information. The integrity of the information provided
by complainants is protected by using state of the art technical solutions, such as security of the website,
redundancy of the information in case of an unforeseen technical issue and application of industry standard
security and encryption protocols.
AFH does not only focus on reporting complaints regarding corruption but also works towards spreading
awareness regarding corruption hazards and fraud prevention among USAID implementing partners, sub-
grantees and G2G partners. Apart from reporting complaints AFH also scans and monitors local newspapers for
the violation of PPRA rules in USAID funded projects.
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Anti Fraud Hotline Workshops
MAY 08, 2018
The workshop was organized on May 8th,
2018 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Peshawar.
Transparency International Pakistan in collaboration with USAID/OIG successfully conducted a workshop on “Fraud Awareness and Prevention” for USAID Implementing Partners on May 08, 2018 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Peshawar.
The prime objective of the workshop was to raise awareness and understanding on fraud and corruption among the implementing partners of USAID funded projects. The workshop provides the participants from various organizations the opportunity to discuss their concerns with representatives of USAID, OIG, NAB and TI Pakistan. This enables active engagement of participants and helps address various concerns and challenges faced by the implementing organizations. The participants develop pivotal understanding in identifying fraud and corruption, thereby practice preventive measures to help address the issues, as well as awareness of Anti-Fraud Hotline to report instances of corruption in USAID funded project.
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Fraud awareness
and prevention
workshop
July 12, 2016:
The workshop was aimed at
transferring of knowledge
to Sub Grantees of USAID
Implementing partners. The
workshop provided the
participants with an
opportunity to discuss the
issues faced in the
implementation of their
projects, by interacting with
representatives from USAID
OIG, NAB and TI-Pakistan.
July 14, 2016
The workshop was
organized under USAID
Anti-Fraud Hotline’s
awareness and outreach
campaign. It was primarily
designed to raise awareness
regarding corruption in
USAID projects, and how to
detect, identify and prevent
it in the projects undertaken
by OTI implementing
partners.
In this quarter, TI Pakistan continued
promoting the project titled “Promoting
Democratic Values Amongst Youth”. The
project aims to give voice to young people
and the vulnerable communities in Sindh
province, bringing about a more open,
transparent and a democratic society that
supports the core democratic values namely
Transparency, Accountability and Integrity.
Youth in Pakistan are aware of and
surrounded by corrupt practices from a very
early age, and how young people are taught
to respond to corrupt practices, lack of
transparency, accountability and integrity
plays a vital role in determining their future
behavior and the democratic culture of the
society as a whole. With a large and growing
percentage of the population in Pakistan
under the age of 30, engaging young people
around the democratic values and processes
is essential for long-term democratic stability
and anti-corruption efforts in Pakistan.
In this quarter, TI Pakistan organized a debate
competition on “Can Citizens Hold Government
Accountable”. The debate competition was held
at Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam,
under the aegis of Youth Integrity Club
established by TI Pakistan. Student teams from
Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam,
Mehran University of Engineering and
Technology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Institute of Science and Technology Hyderabad
and surrounding colleges of Tandojam
participated in the competition. Students
debated on how they can play an active role in
the fight against corruption and hold
government accountable. Cash prize and
certificates were distributed among the top 3
debaters, and gifts and certificates were also
provided to other participants.
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Youth Leadership & Integrity Workshop: In this quarter, TI Pakistan organized two (2) training workshops on Citizens Constitutional Rights & Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act 2017. The workshops were held on Tuesday April 24, 2018 at Indus Hotel Hyderabad and on Tuesday May 8, 2018 at SRSO hall Sukkur respectively. The primary goal of the workshop was to help enhance the capacity and understanding of young people on how they can use the Right to Information Law to raise their voice, exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities, and engage with government and other local stakeholders to hold them accountable. The participants were informed about the history of Access to Information Laws in Pakistan and the world best practices. They discussed in detail different clauses of Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act 2017 and learnt how to write RTI application. Around 120 participants participated in both workshops. Youth Dialogue with Policy Makers: In this quarter, Transparency International Pakistan organized a fascinating discussion on the role of ethics in politics and how can the youth influence, create, or change public policy decisions on April 18th 2018 at Greenwich University campus. Around 200 students attended the event including students from other universities. The event was followed by refreshments and informal conversation between students and the guest speakers. TI Pakistan was able to invite three highly influential personalities to offer their respective views on the complex yet intriguing relationship between ethics and politics. The panel included Munawar Mirza, a respectable journalist, Dr. Arif Alvi, politician from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Saleem Zia, politician from Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, and Samir Mir Shaikh, a politician from Pakistan Peoples Party. Focused Group Discussion: In this quarter, TI Pakistan conducted a Focused Group Discussion and Survey in the Districts Thatta and Sujawal, Sindh from May 2-4, 2018. The idea of the Focused Group Discussion is to increase an understanding of integrity, transparency, accountability and good governance in selected villages across Sindh province. The aim is to empower villagers to demand their rights and hold government accountable. TI Pakistan is currently evaluating the results and in coming month we will disseminate findings among relevant stakeholders.
Youth leadership
and integr ity
workshops
24th APRIL, 2018
TI-P organized its first
training workshop on
Tuesday April 24, 2018 at
Indus Hotel, Hyderabad.
April 24, 2018
TI-P organized its second
training workshop on
Tuesday May 8, 2018 at
SRSO Hall, Sukkur.
April 24, 2018
TI-P organized a seminar on
Youth Dialogue with Policy
Makers on April 18, 2018 at
Greenwich University
Campus, Karachi.
XXVVXVI, JULY 2018
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Glimpses from ALAC Activities
In this quarter, on April 23, 2018,
TI Pakistan organized a free legal
advice camp (Mobile ALAC) in
district Pishin. Two lawyers in the
Mobile Camp provided free legal
advice to the victims of
corruption. Majority of the
complaints were about shortage of
water supply, problems in getting
CNIC cards, and administrative
issues of the government
departments. A total of 46 initial
contacts were received which
were all males.
On 29 April, 2018 TI Pakistan in
collaboration with SAIBAN
organized an awareness seminar
on United against Corruption in
Tehsil Chishtian of district
Bahawalnagar. The program was
organized in the Town Municipal
Hall and attended by a large number
of people. TI Pakistan representative
informed the audience about the
activities of Transparency
International Pakistan the adverse
effects of corruption and the role of
RTI laws and social accountability.
Mr. Tahir shah who represented
SAIBAN, gave a detail overview
how corruption affected the lives of
the people of Bahawalnagar. In the
end, the Chairman from Local
government informed the
participants about the performance
Citizens Voice Against Corruption
of his team during his tenure. The
program also received media
coverage by local and national
news channels.
Moreover, TI Pakistan in
collaboration with SAIBAN
organized a free legal advice camp
(Mobile ALAC) for the citizens of
Bahawalnagar and nearby villages.
A large number of people came
and registered their complaints.
Two lawyers gave them legal
advice. The founder of SAIBAN
Mr. Tahir Shah informed TI
Pakistan that his organization
would keep complaints in future
and forward them to TI Pakistan.
XXVVXVI, JULY 2018
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Citizen’s Report Card Study
Transparency International
Pakistan conducted a Citizen
Report Card Study on Education in
district Swat and Lower Dir. The
data was collected from 11th May
to 14th May 2018 and TI Pakistan
representative monitored the data
collection process along with the
partner NGO, Movement for Rural
Peshawar
Development Organization. Experienced enumerators which were properly briefed about the scope and objectives of the survey collected data from 200 respondents from each of the two districts. The survey form has 30 questions which covered education services provided by
the provincial government in primary and secondary schools. The result of the CRC will be published in a separate report compiled after analyzing the data.