A GOVERNMENT decision to auction the gifts that cabinet ministers and other senior officials have received over the past year may on the face of it appear as an administrative measure. Viewed in a larger perspective, it points to a rather political orientation of establishing transparency as a value in the pursuance of public service. Gone are the days when senior officials believe that the gifts offered to them by visiting foreign dignitaries or by their counterparts abroad are meant to express appreciation for or acknowledgement of their own superb qualities and unseconded distinction. And definitely gone also are the days when senior officials do not disclose the privileges they get access to in the discharge of the official duties. The sale by the Finance Ministry of all such presents may not bring sizable amounts of money to a heavily-burdened state treasury, but the moral and political implications of the public auction are extremely invaluable for a society that has for decades been plagued by overt and covert corruption. There might have been cases of officials taking personal initiatives to hand over the government the gifts they received; but these were largely individual initiatives and never reflected an established practice. Ongoing investigations by the Anti-Graft Board into cases of highly expensive gifts that press and media establishments offered to the former president, his aides, a prime minister, cabinet ministers and senior officials provide ample evidence to the extent of illegitimate and irresponsible siphoning off of financial resources that belong to the people. The list of names of those senior officials who offered to pay the value of the gifts they accepted in return for dropping law cases against them provides yet one more firm proof of the mushrooming of corruption. Had they not been ordered to appear for questioning on the issue, the value of the gift could have vanished forever. Against this background, Prime Minister Hesham Qandil's directive that all state officials should disclose and hand over to the Finance Ministry the gifts they receive deserves due tribute. In addition, the Finance Ministry's reported intention to upload onto its website pictures and info of the items offered for sale through auction would consolidate the government's transparency attitudes in action.
