America is faced with a major environmental crisis in the wake of a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack Obama has put the onus on British Petroleum (BP) to take responsibility for the damage caused not just to the environment but to the livelihood people living along the coast. Obama said that BP and all other responsible parties must be held accountable. The US Congress, which is the legislative wing of the government, has also started a formal process of summoning the BP bosses and making them answerable for various omissions and commissions. This brings us to the all important question of accountability, especially when it comes to one’s own action whether it is the State, corporations or even individuals. It is however not a surprise to know that not many of us are comfortable with the practice of being accountable. This is true of both western democracy and the developing world, although the former is much better off when it comes to applying some standard of responsibility as is seen in the present case of BP’s action—being made accountable to the American people.
According to available resource, accountability is a “concept in ethics and governance”. “It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving”. The word has great significance when it comes to leadership and governance and therefore it is both a value as well as much needed practice. And this is precisely why it is so important to bring to the public domain on the question of accountability so that any act of omission is fixed on those responsible. If public is educated on this, then we can slowly expect our governing systems and those who run the affairs of our State, to start being accountable. This is the need of the hour if we want to bring about qualitative change to our system and leadership.
All of us are aware of the fact that our government system has deteriorated almost beyond repair. Whether it is the politician, the government servant or even the public, no one is blameless. Absenteeism, incompetence, corruption and all sorts of illegality plague us so much so that we have failed to deliver. A culture of indifference and the lack of accountability are at the heart of the problem. We need to strengthen not just our institutions but also our moral resolve because at the end of the day accountability is about personal action. At the same time we have to understand that a wrong action cannot be brought into account if we do not have the necessary checks and balances. Therefore, besides the executive, we need to strengthen the judiciary, legislature and promote a free press so that power is not usurped by anyone. No one is above the law. Accountability must be fixed. It must be institutionalized. Finally we need to develop best practices relating to service delivery, encourage social audits wherever possible and also move towards e-governance in its totality.
