YANGON — A commission established by the Union parliament in early 2014 to fight corruption has failed to meet expectations, an MP with the Union Solidarity and Development Party said last week.
“The performance of the anti-corruption commission, which was established with the aim of achieving clean governance, has been unsatisfactory,” said U Tin Maung Oo, who represents Yangon’s Shwe Pyithyar Township in the Pyithu Hluttaw.
“The reason why the anti-corruption commission has not met the people’s expectations is because it has limited power,” he said on November 26.
After being established in March 2014, the commission was required to submit by-laws and regulations for fighting corruption to the hluttaw within 90 days, but they were not submitted until 20 months later, U Tin Maung Oo.
The delay has affected efforts to require MPs and government officials to submit lists of their personal assets.
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U Tin Maung Oo’s comments came after the chairman of the anti-corruption commission, U Mya Win, told the hluttaw that in the absence of the necessary regulations it was not possible to begin the “huge” task of compiling asset lists.
“In order to enact the anti-corruption law, the corresponding regulations need to be approved by the hluttaw and only when the regulations come into existence can lists of the property and assets of authoritative persons be compiled,” U Mya Win said.
The necessary regulations were announced with the government’s approval on July 10, 2015, and submitted to the hluttaw on July 27.
Parliamentary sources said that in the four months since the regulations were tabled there has been no communication between the hluttaw and the commission.
The delay in approving the by-laws and regulations for tackling corruption has been compared with shorter time taken to approve and enact the four controversial race and religion laws.
