Is only Accountability enough for political purification?

Is only Accountability enough for politics to purify?

Corruption is without a doubt one of the major causes of political impurity. To most of the people accountability of politicians is the only way to purify the political system of a country; but that is nonetheless a misguided and incomplete approach. There are a number of other reasons why the political system get dirty and without taking them all into the account, the system will not go towards political purity.

Education and politics

Education has a direct relation with the political system of a country. If people are properly educated what they will do, is use their vote properly. They will know what to expect from their politicians. They will not vote for people who are dishonest and corrupt, so this will defeat the notion of financial corruption at home. It will not be easy for such politicians to manipulate the educated voters. Those countries where the literary rate is higher the corruption is way lower than those with lower literary rates. Pakistan is one such example where the literacy rate is alarmingly low and hence an alarmingly high corruption rate. Most of the political problems in Pakistan revolves around corruption but no one is interested in addressing its real cause i.e. the lack of a proper education in masses.

Role of military establishment /Pressure groups

This second most important factor to be considered in achieving political purity is the role of military and or other pressure groups. Lets first take role of military: If we take the example of Pakistan the role of military is not very encouraging. The military has historically been taming politicians and using them for their own interests. We have the example of Asghar khan case where the military literally bought politicians and tried to use them to form a government of their choice. This may have short-term benefits but bears long term consequences for the political system of the country. A system like this is not very likely to produce honest and upright politicians. Similarly, there are groups with vested interests in almost all the countries who support the politicians in their campaigns and when they are elected they owe these groups big time. Then these groups leverage their position and make the politicians do things which are not in public interest but in the interest of these groups only. This is another reason why the political system of a country remains polluted and impure; because a system like this is not capable of achieving political purity.

How to achieve political purity then?

It is now perfectly clear that neither the corruption is the only cause of political impurity nor is accountability the only solution. For a country to achieve political purity it must have an educational system which ensures breeding responsible citizens. The people must know their duty as responsible citizens, they must know what to expect from a politician they are voting for, they must know what the implications will be if they voted the wrong person. Without a proper education the chances of a person using his vote properly are very thin. So education may be the single most important factor in the quest to achieve political purity. Similarly, role of military and pressure groups must be minimized to the fullest extent possible, so that honest politicians may come forward and have a chance to work without any pressure. Following the constitution is the best way to do it.

Therefore, if a country is to achieve political purity it must consider all these factors collectively because they are all interdependent, leaving one will most likely affect the efficacy of all combined. So We can safely say that accountability is not enough to achieve political purity.