US may set up Inspector General office in Pakistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

Kerry-Lugar bill proposing $1.5bn per annum assistance has a clause to establish IG office to ensure transparency in aid spending

Friday, May 08, 2009
By Mehtab Haider

ISLAMABAD: The Obama administration exactly on the pattern of Iraq will establish office of the Special Inspector General in Pakistan after approval of $1.5 billion assistance per annum under Kerry-Lugar bill in order to ‘ensure transparency’ in spending at districts level, it is learnt reliably.

There is a clause in the Kerry-Lugar bill which is under consideration in US Senate for establishing office of Inspector General in Pakistan by designating responsibility to achieve transparency in spending on development projects, going to be executed with the upcoming US assistance.

The US authorities, after its invasion in Iraq, had established the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), a federal agency serving the American public as a watchdog for fraud, waste, and abuse of funds intended for Iraq reconstruction programmes.

The SIGIR was created by Congress to provide oversight of the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) and all obligations, expenditures, and revenues associated with reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in Iraq. The SIGIR oversight is accomplished via independent audits, field inspections, and criminal investigations into potential fraud, waste, and abuse of funds. When spokesman of Pakistan Foreign Office, Abdul Basit, was contacted for seeking his comments, he said that details were being worked out in this regard. He confirmed that the there is a clause in the proposed Kerry-Lugar bill for establishing Inspector General Office in Pakistan.

When spokesman in US embassy was contacted for seeking his comments, he said that he was not aware about any development for establishing Inspector General Office in Pakistan at the moment.

Official sources in Finance Ministry said that it was expected that the Kerry-Lugar bills would get through from legislative forums by the next month. After getting nod of the both the Houses in US from Senate as well as Congress, the Obama administration will prepare a Pakistan Economic Strategy Report, which will be discussed with authorities in Islamabad to identify certain areas where this assistance of 1.5 billion dollar per annum will be utilized.

Under this proposed bill, the US President Barak Hussain Obama will have to present a detailed report on Pakistan before the Congress every year in order to get certificate for continuation of assistance for the next year. Pakistan will get total $7.5 billion assistance in the next five years provided it continues to meet conditions mainly in terms of taking stern action against militants.

In the aftermath of 9/11 scenario, the US had so far provided around $11 billion to Pakistan in shape of budgetary support, USAID, military assistance as well as Coalition Support Fund from 2002 to 2008.

On budgetary side as well as through USAID, the mode of financing remained problematic area as all projects executed with the assistance provided by USA were done in soft areas and no one could cite even single hard side of the development, which could be symbolized as Pak-US friendship despite utilizing billions of dollars. The capacity constraints, the sources said, was the major stumbling block in the way of both sides, resulting into ineffective spending where people of Pakistan remained unable to get the desired results by witnessing prosperity after getting assistance from USA and other western allies.

Official sources also said that the US administration will release around $400 million in shape of military reimbursement bill in the next few days out of total forwarded bill of $1.2 billion. It was expected that the whole amount of military reimbursement bill will be cleared before June 30, 2009, which will help in meeting the envisaged fiscal deficit target of 4.2 per cent of the GDP, equivalent to Rs562 billion for 2008-09.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=176420