BY OKTAY EKSI
HURRIYET- Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on a new public administration reform bill. A summary of his column is as follows:
A new public administration bill, one set to drastically change how the country is run and make it more dynamic, was unveiled yesterday. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is taking very important steps for our democratization and ensuring the rule of law. For example, it passed a ‘right to know’ law and thus took the first step towards making the state transparent.
With this law, services will no longer be furnished through the orders of general directors in Ankara who know little about other places. From now on, the Turkish people will enter a public office not blindly accepting what’s said by bureaucrats, but by calling them public officials who serve the public. In addition, they’ll look for the truth themselves and request information, and public officials who don’t provide this will be punished.
This draft law is generally good, but it has certain worrisome aspects. For example, it would abolish inspection councils and turn this duty over to the Court of Accounts on the grounds that ‘there are many inspection councils but they haven’t prevented corruption.’ Thus inspectors rightfully object, ‘In spite of our police force, theft and murders continue. So should we get rid of the police, or rather fix its faults?’ The Court of Accounts can monitor monetary issues but how can it inspect civilian administrations, for example, provinces, districts and schools? If they suggest the abolition of inspection councils for harmonization to the European Union, they should know that the EU wants no such thing.