A High Level Delegation of MEC Meets Minister of Communication and Information Technology

On Sunday, 14th September, 2015 a high delegation representing the Independent Joint Anti-corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) led by Mr. Yasin Osmani met his Excellency Mr. Abdul-Razaq Vahidi in his office to discuss on MCIT’s latest reforms and developments.  Mr. Yama Torabi, the Committee Member of MEC said that the said organization has been working since 2010 aimed at conducting monitoring and evaluations on the performance of government agencies and programs, developing monitoring standards and indicators and providing corrective recommendations for addressing the gaps and problems.

 Regarding MCIT, he explained that MEC had submitted its recommendations during the previous government focused on key areas such structure, management the need for immediate reform within ATRA’s recruitment process, SIM Card registration and associated negative perceptions regarding the contract which been signed for the procurement of electronic ID card applications and equipment. “Now we are here to know your new measures and corrective steps in areas mentioned”, added Mr. Torabi.

Mr. Vahidi thanked the delegation for their professional and hard work and their useful recommended points. He said that even though MEC’s recommendations were linked to past performances of MCIT but I am responsive to take them seriously.  Fortunately, these are areas that I focused during my earlier days of office. However, there areas that I would prefer you had monitored critically in addition to areas that are recommended for improvement. He also updated the visiting team on MCIT’s new adopted policies and measures and explained some of the recent corrective measures such as thorough review of ATRA’s organizational structure, development of new guideline and internal procedure for a more transparent management and recruitments at ATRA.

Members of the team shared their concerns on associated with legal personality of ATRA and MCIT’s failure in starting the sim-card registration which has been one of the recommendations by MEC. Mr. Vahidi provided some more details on MCIT’s firm determination for Sim-Cards registration saying: “We are strongly committed to implementing every recommendations made by you and similar monitoring organizations, but there are some similar processes that MCIT thinks will be more cost effective if done  simultaneously such as ID card distribution, election cards and sim cards registration process because we need to do biometric and finger printing for each of the process separately if not coordinated. In spite of this, we have already drafted new policies and procedures that will enable us initiate the process as soon as possible.”

 Regarding the MEC’s concern on previous contracts for the National ID cards systems, Mr. Vahidi explained that the contract is too technical and thus, it is difficult to find a professional third party in Afghanistan to conduct a thorough investigations on the matter. Once again, he welcomed a technical audit of the contract by a third party.

Mr. Yasin Osmani, thanked the Minister for his clear vision about the MCIT’s future plans, and said that since the establishment of MEC in 2010, we shared a series of recommendations with MCIT’s Ex-Minister but unfortunately, they were never considered and followed seriously. “On behalf of MEC leadership, I would like to thank you for your holistic approach on fight against corruption. We do understand the challenges but once again stress on your further practical steps. Your recent initiatives are recommendable.” he added.

Mr. Vahidi concluded the meeting by focusing more on MCIT’ future plans and the meantime promised to keep eye on obviating the past challenges. In the end, he emphasized in maintaining friendly and close communication with MEC, SAO and other relevant government agencies so as to find better and more practical solutions to addressing the problems that roots from the past.