Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall has stated that every day government is undertaking efforts to remove social ills such as corruption and abuse of power from public offices.
Speaking during the latest edition of his weekly programme – Issues In The News, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said government is cognizant of these issues, and is working feverishly to rid the public sector of them.
“We are working every day to ensure that abuse of power at every level in the State apparatus is minimised. I don’t think one can ever eliminate it, but we are working feverishly every day to minimise, executive lawlessness, arrogance in public office, and abuse of power,” Nandlall said.
However, the Attorney General posited that when citizens and key leaders in the society participate in acts such as bribery, then it makes government’s task of tackling the issue more difficult.
“It takes two persons for a bribe to be successful, you have to have a briber and a bribee. If there is no briber then there will be no bribery. So, citizens have to understand that they cannot bribe,” he posited.
According to Nandlall, this especially applies to police officers, against whom there are many complaints of bribery. But the AG contended that citizens need to take the responsible position and call out these officers.
“Make it public. Is a policeman ask you for a bribe?”
“I have said in the public sector, in the legal sector, when bribe is requested of you, make it public. Take a photograph or go live and say “this man is asking me for a bribe,” that’s… one of the ways by which we can deal with the issue.”
Another way Nandlall said this issue can be dealt with is if persons stop paying the bribes. He noted that there are too many people who are prepared to compromise due process.
“There are too many persons who are prepared, and very willing to pay the bribe. In fact, there are many people who offer the bribe, but people don’t like to hear this…it’s difficult for persons to accept their fault. They’re going to criticise me for even saying this, if it is that you have violated the law, the let the policeman charge you. If you believe that you are innocent, you go to court and the case is tried. But it’s when you want to compromise the legal process, it is when you want to pervert the legal process, then is when the issue of bribery arises.”
