National Institute of Management, Islamabad

25th Senior Management Course

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PAPER

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM IN PAKISTAN: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NAB

Submitted by

Shakeel Anjum Nagra (NAB)

Sponsor DS: Ms. Fauzia Perveen

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
INTRODUCTION:

In Surah Bani Israil, Ayat 11, Quran says, "Man should make for good, he maketh for evil."
Omar Khayyam had said, "Did ever mortal pass a sinless day 1." Corruption and swindling
have been present in this world from time immemorial. Unfortunately, Pakistan inherited
this malady at its creation and it kept on spreading with the passage of time, like other
social evils.

The term ‘accountable’ originates from Latin computare, “to count”. To be accountable
required a person to produce ‘a count’ of either the properties or money that had been left
in his care. For a considerable time, ‘accountability’ was part of a family of words in English
that covered a number of interrelated meanings that had to do with issues of political
representation, executive and administrative responsibility and more loosely, legal liability.
The relationship between these semantic fields, however, have lately been transformed,
with accountability taking on a life of its own. Two facts stand to indicate the late
emergence of accountability as a specific concept—one is its historical absence from
dictionaries and encyclopaedias until fairly recently (the 1980s), and the other is lack of
precise equivalents in most other languages.

Accountability is a mechanism according to which a person or institution is responsible for

a set of duties and can be required to give an account of their fulfillment to an authority
that is in a position to issue rewards or punishment. The founding fathers of Pakistan were
well aware of the evil of corruption; that is why in addition to the then existing provisions
of Pakistan Penal Code (which had a number of provisions pertaining to corruption),
Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1947 was enacted and at provincial level Anti-
Corruption Establishments were established. The legislations which followed PCA, 1947
include Public and Representative Office (Disqualification) Act (PRODA), 1949; Public
Offices (Disqualification) Order (March 1959); EBDO-Elective Bodies Disqualification Order
(Aug 1959); Federal Investigation Act 1973; Ehtesab Ordinance, 1996; Ehtesab Act,
1997and National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

In addition to the above legislations, and agencies created thereunder, there are some other
Institutions also which combat corruption. These include office of the Auditor General of
Pakistan, Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Pakistan Procurement Regulatory Authorities
at the federal as well as provincial levels, and the offices of federal and provincial
Ombudsman to keep a check on the acts of maladministration. However, Pakistan
continues to suffer from the menace of corruption and this leads to continuous erosion of
public trust in the anti-corruption initiatives. As per Transparency International Ranking
2018, Pakistan showed a slight improvement by scoring 33, one point more than last year
but remained on the same position i.e. at 117 out of 180 as it was previous year. As
compared to other anti-corruption agencies of Pakistan, NAB is generally perceived to be

1
A.U. Saleem, “Corruption: its evolution and accountability” Daily Nation, 7th Dec 2008 https://nation.com.pk/07-
Dec-2008/corruption-its-evolution-and-accountability accessed on 2nd April 2019
more powerful and resourceful. Despite a reasonable performance in the last two decades,
its effectiveness and efficiency is still in question which needs to be looked into for
transparent and meritorious actions of NAB.

RESEARCH SCOPE:

This research study will analyze and evaluate different legal frameworks and institutional
mechanisms adopted by Pakistan from time to time since its inception for accountability to
fight against corruption. The study will also examine the effectiveness of NAB’s
performance, across-the-board accountability, issues and challenges faced by NAB. Based
on the findings of the evaluation, the study will recommend way forward / changes in NAB
law and Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) for enhancing effectiveness of NAB to fight
the menace of corruption in Pakistan.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

This study would use both primary and secondary sources of information and data.
Following laws would be critically examined to understand their efficacy in mechanism of
Accountability in Pakistan: -

a. Pakistan Penal Code (Provisions relation to corruption and accountability)

b. The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947
c. Public and Representative Office (Disqualification) Act (Proda), 1949
d. Public Offices (Disqualification) Order (March 1959)
e. EBDO-Elective Bodies Disqualification Order (Aug 1959)
f. The West Pakistan Anti Corruption Establishment Ordinance, 1961
g. The [Punjab] Anti Corruption Establishment Ordinance, 1961
h. Federal Investigation Agency Act, 1973
i. The Sindh Enquiries and Anti Corruption Act, 1991
j. The Ehtesab Ordinance, 1996
k. The Ehtesab Act, 1997
l. National Accountability Ordinance, 1999
m. The Baluchistan Enquiries and Anti Corruption Act, 2010
n. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act, 2014
o. the KP Ehtesab Commission (Repeal) Act, 2018
Interviews of the officers of the Institutions created for accountability would be conducted
and data would be collected (wherever possible) to grasp strength and weaknesses of these
Institutions and reasons for their failure or success in effective accountability.
Various research reports, web articles, websites and policies would be reviewed to
understand the topic, to move forward, to study and analyze the subject, and to
recommend action plan.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The research methodology would be descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and analytical;

wherein, both primary and secondary sources, and present and historic data would be
analyzed to reach a fair conclusion and to suggest a way forward.