Members of the Shoura Council discussed at its recent session the annual report of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha).

The members noted a small number of reports on corruption. This, the members felt, was due to frustrations on the part of citizens who do not believe that Nazaha has the capabilities nor the power to deal with corruption.

Mohammed Al-Naji, a member of one of the Shoura committees, described the work of Nazaha as “modest and humble” and asked that it be given more powers to review regulations and propose amendments in order to increase transparency.

Fahad Al-Enzi, another member at the council, criticized the recommendations of the committee on human rights and supervisory commissions which involved providing Nazaha with copies of court rulings in corruption cases. He noted that such actions would be seen as a kind of supervision of the judiciary. He warned Nazaha against drifting toward collecting funds at the expense of its preventive role of fighting corruption.

Other members asked for a study on the reasons why some government bodies refrain from cooperating with Nazaha. They also criticized the increasing number of such bodies, from nine last year to 16 at present.

Mohammed Al-Naqadi, head of another committee, said Nazaha’s report clearly indicates the body is facing problems, both internally and externally. There are problems with uncooperative government bodies which is why Nazaha has not yet been able to develop an environment characterized by transparency and integrity.

Abdullah Al-Sadoon asked that the government bodies be held accountable for concealing necessary information from Nazaha. He said that corruption causes the public not to trust official bodies as well as causing low productivity and delays in completing projects.

He called on the authorities to emphasize the values of integrity and combating corruption in the school curriculum.

Assaf Abu Thunain pointed to improvements in combating corruption, noting that the value indicator of the national integrity of the Kingdom stands at 43 percent while the global indicator stands at 56 percent.

He said the report of the supervisory commissions had failed to mention these facts.

Hayat Sindi called on the parties concerned to benefit from international experiences in fighting corruption. She also pointed to the importance of the recommendation to include the values of integrity and transparency in the school curriculum, saying that although students receive extensive lessons in religion, culture and education, their awareness of corruption and fighting it is still low.