Keeping the government’s nose clean: An absolute necessity in public procurement
Tunku Aziz, Malaysia Outlook
Public procurement everywhere in the world is the single most important source of corruption.
It goes without saying that official secrecy surrounding this vitally important activity was what keeps corruption alive and well.
It does not help matters if the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 is abused to hide a multitude of sins, and in the process to stifle efforts to make our procurement system open, transparent and accountable.
We have come a long way in improving the systems and procedures involved, but much remains to be done to ensure that corrupt practices are kept at bay.
Years of indifference and disregard for public opinion have rendered the procurement system, such as it is, more honoured in the breach than the observance.
I am not, and have never been, opposed to the OSA as I believe that it was an important instrument for the regulation of orderly government business.
A country soon becomes ungovernable if confidential and top secret information is leaked with impunity.
That said, the OSA must only be used for the purpose for which it was legislated in the first place and not abused, as was often the case in many countries all over the world, to conceal their governments’ more questionable and often corrupt actions that cannot stand close public scrutiny.
Guarantees that only information that passes the most rigorous national secrets standards tests must be incorporated in the revised Act currently under active consideration.
Today, more than ever before, government business ethics are taking centre stage whenever public policy issues are discussed and debated.
Many countries are grappling with mounting problems of unethical public behaviour particularly in the area of government procurement.
There are tried and tested anti-corruption procurement procedures in place in many member OECD countries, and with appropriate modifications, they could be adopted by our country.
