Commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day
09 Dec 2018 The Special Anti-Corruption Secretariat have commemorated the International Anti-Corruption Day in cooperation with the United Nations in Afghanistan
At the ceremony, which was held at the Chahar Chinar Palace, H.E. President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, H.E. Sarwar Danish, Second Vice President, H.E. Tedamichi Yumamoto, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan, H.E. John Bass, Ambassador of the United States of America, and H.E. Nicholas Kay Ambassador of the United Kingdom delivered their speech to the media and participants. Senior government officials, United Nations representatives, diplomats and civil society representatives participated in this program. The purpose of this program was to celebrate International Anti-Corruption Day and discuss the implementation of the short-term anti-corruption indicators of the Geneva Mutual Accountability Framework (GMAF).
President Ghani discussed on the importance of such programs, and he expressed that the Afghan government is committed in combating corruption and wants the corruption eradicated in the country. The president recalled the reforms in the Kankor (University entrance test) examinations of the Higher Education, the civil service by Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Services Commission (IARCSC), the procurement process, land, and security sector as prominent examples of the fight against corruption. He emphasized that the people, Ulema and the media play an important role in the fight against corruption.
President Ghani said that the Afghan government has significant efforts to eradicate corruption. He said that we are moving forward in this endeavor.
H.E. Tadamichi Yamamoto, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, praised the Afghan president's commitment to fight corruption, and he said that the Afghan government is focusing continuously on the fight against corruption. He also called corruption as the biggest challenge.
H.E. the Second Vice-President, Sarwar Danish discussed on the steps taken by the Afghan government in the field of legal frameworks such as adopting and amendment of laws in combating corruption. He added that the government has taken important steps in the public laws, from commercial and economic law to civil, criminal, administrative, and anti-corruption laws.
H.E. the Vice-President stated that over four years and three months of the National Unity Government (NUG), only the Second Vice-President Office worked on more than 390 legislative acts on various issues through its chairing of the Law Committee, as most of them are completed and approved.
In addition, US Ambassador H.E. John Bass and UK Ambassador H.E. Nicholas Kay delivered their speeches at the program and they said that the Afghanistan government has made progress in preparing of the framework and rules for combating corruption. However, they emphasized that, now it is important to enforce the rules and regulations. Also, they expressed their support for anti-corruption activities of the Afghan government.
After the speeches, H.E. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan signed the Integrity Pact.
In the second part of program, H.E. Ajmal Ahmady, Senior Economic Advisor to the President presented the renewed version of the National Strategy for Combating Corruption to the participants. He said that Afghanistan has progressed gradually in terms of transparency, and holding of this program reflects the commitment of the Afghan government to fight corruption.
After the presentation, the program continued in four separate panels with the participation of government officials, international institutions and civil society organizations on Afghanistan's commitments in combating corruption at the Geneva Conference, in particular on indicators related to the follow-up of corruption cases, justice and judiciary, asset declaration and verification and the access to information law. The results of the panels were shared in a press conference at the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) by Dr. Yama Torabi, Head of the Special Anti-Corruption Secretariat, and Jocelyn Mason, Resident Representative a.i., UNDP.
