With the new government taking a tough stance on all forms of corruption at the public offices, the respective ministers and lawmakers have also adopted signature initiatives to curb graft, earn the trust of the people and get acknowledgement of the nation. In the spirit of establishing a culture of integrity and honesty, the land minister has said that all land offices will be brought under CCTVs, operations digitized and wealth statements demanded from land officials.

That land offices are mired in aberrations is not a new finding and the array of underhand dealings severely hamper their operation, resulting in the harassment of the general people plus the proliferation of bribery.

Now these moves, as stated by the minister, are certainly laudable but they have to be implemented properly and pursued with dogged determination without any favour to an offending official, irrespective of his alliance to the ruling party.  Too many irregularities happen at public service providing offices simply because decisions to improve services remain as rhetoric, never seeing the light of day.  

Installing CCTV’s is a solid first start which will send warning to all, though CCTVs that are only for show will never bring any result. Who will ensure that the TVs are not disconnected or are deliberately kept inoperable? If preventing corrupt practices is the aim then mobile phones of officials need to be under surveillance too.

The idea to assess wealth statements is also praiseworthy, though there have been instances in the past when false statements were presented.  To bring down malpractices at the land offices, the minister can also think of placing a complaint drop box or circulate an e-mail so that anyone with grievances can inform the top person about misconduct.

In order to tackle corruption, the minister has to come to the masses and interact with them regularly, otherwise, he will be in the dark about methods adopted by nefarious elements to circumvent the safety measures. Minimising corruption also involves handing out exemplary punishment to the law breakers and those who keep on exploiting the people.  Unless the general people see that those who demand bribes actually face consequences, all plans about making public offices more transparent will only sound hollow. Too many times such platitudes were delivered; this time, let’s hope for some action.