Editorial
ACC's consultative meetings welcome
The outcome should be translated into action
The embattled Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) may have given itself a sense of self-esteem after taking a brunt of public criticism for being a non-starter, painfully long enough. Apparently, it has found a niche at Chittagong port. Its corruption prevention approach has had a constraining effect on the free-for-all wheeling and dealing at the premier port of the country. ACC chief Justice Sultan Hossain Khan's application of a consultative method in the series of meetings he has been holding with the stakeholders viz representatives of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, shipping agents, clearing and forwarding agents has proved useful. With the outcome of such interaction in his hand, he then had the ACC team meet the officials of Chittagong customs and port authorities. At the end of the interactive consultative process, the ACC, the stakeholders and users were able to evolve a set of decisions whereby they seem equipped now to try and curb corruption and irregularities in the port. It has been our firm belief that effective coordination between users and operators on the one hand, and that between the stakeholders and the governing authorities on the other is key to increasing efficiency of the port as well as to the containment of corruption and irregularities by a system of check and balance. The ACC chairman has promised to monitor the activities at Chittagong port through a vigilance team as intelligence agencies kept round-the-clock watch over the loopholes through which corruption and malpractice are spawning. The most effective anti-dote to the malaise, however, would be introduction of an automation system which will help successfully avert the highly distracting phenomenon of the parties blaming each other for corruption and irregularities. It is heartening that the suggestion has come from insiders: the stakeholders and customs and port officials. We are now interested in seeing the decisions implemented.
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