Association of Kohima Municipal Wards Panchayat (AKMWP), Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) and Kohima Baptist Pastor Fellowship (KBPF) have “unanimously” extended support to the public resolutions adopted on August 25, 2017 ACAUT mass rally in Dimapur, which demanded the passage of Lokayukta Bill in the state Assembly by September 2017.
In a press release, AKMWP president, Neibulie Kiewhuo, and vice president, Khrielakuo Sekhose, stated that the decision to extend support was taken at joint consultative meeting of AKMWP, KBPF and ACAUT held in Kohima on September 26.
The meeting, which was hosted by AKMWP, noted that corruption cannot be wiped out with a magic wand, but there was a “short cut” to check corruption, which is setting up Lokayukta in Nagaland. Further, the house observed that in a state government where there was no opposition and was a party-less government, a mechanism such as Lokayukta, which was an independent institution to check corruption headed by a retired supreme court judge or a retired high court judge as the chairman, must be immediately constituted in the state of Nagaland. “Successive government will come and go, but when this Lokayukta is once appointed, it will stay whether a government is there or not,” the house maintained.
The speakers at the meeting, which held on two-point agenda — Corruption and Clean Election — dwelt on random unchecked practice of corruption, violating every system of guidelines and procedural function of both the Centre and the state.
With regard to Clean Election, the house opined that any amount of planning or circulating DOs and DON’Ts through print media was not helping much. Therefore, the house suggested that the only option was to “Walk the Talk”.
The meeting maintained that even as the NBCC was spearheading the clean election campaign, every civil society organisation such as NGOs, churches, learning institutions, youth organizations, student organizations, village councils, urban town panchayats, women organizations and even governmental agencies must come out openly and contribute for the cause of clean election.
“NBCC is taking the initiative, but it is the duty of every Christian regardless of their denominations to nurture the mindset of our society in the future process of clean election,” the house noted.
In this regard, the house appealed to the NBCC to request the Naga Christians and the churches in every town and village to detail their pastors and deacons to every polling station to lead in prayer on the day of polling.