By: Mohammad Yahya

Authority is the competence provided by law for a person to perform a certain task as good as possible. There must be a balance between the authority and the desired task.

For example; if the head of the state doesn't have enough authorities to manage the state affairs, he will not be able to take the right decision on the right timing and this may lead to chaos. Such situation may occur in parliament based political systems which magnify the role of parliament at the expense of the government.

If the opposite happens, the ruler will turn to a dictator.

Therefore, any authority must be controlled by several methods such as:

Monitoring:

There should be certain bodies their main job is to watch officials and hold them to account for their misuse of authority. Such bodies may exist in many countries; however they must be honest and efficient.

For instance, Bill Clinton was held to account for his relation to Monica. Ehud Olmert is still suffering for corruption charges and in Indonesia, the parliament has ousted two presidents; Suharto and Abdel Rahman Wahid.

Such bodies deserve to be respected whereas many other countries have very efficient staff but they use them improperly.

Finally everybody must watch Allah Who knows everything. Allah says "He uttereth no word but there is with him an observer ready". This is the most effective to eliminate corruption.

Calling to account:

To call to account everyone behaves illegally and not be satisfied just knowing he is corrupt. Such person must be punished for others to learn the lesson and for people not to despair of the community justice and therefore tend to spoil everything they reach.

Deposition:

It is nonsensical that an official stays in power for ever. Such continuous unjustified support is the major pillar of corruption. They may say that person is genius, efficient or honest. However, every person has limits. Changing roles and positions is a universal rule that we must respect.

I feel disappointed when I see a man in Sudan, for example, leads a political party for more than 45 years. And another in Syria occupies the position of a defense minister for 35 years let alone those who head some governmental companies in Egypt for 20 years, etc.

Allah says "These are (only) the vicissitudes which We cause to follow one another for mankind"

Why isn't there a peaceful and legal alternation in power?

Isn’t this better than depositions and calling to account?

As for influence peddling, which is the practice of using one's influence with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment, it can't be monitored or punished for.

We can see for instance "Saif al Islam al Gaddafi" who has no official authority but no one can deny his influence in the Libyan society.

It is well known also that the Libyan leadership will give him an official position near to cover his influence peddling.

I can say that this pattern is repeated around the Arab world. As they can open the closed doors and facilitate all complicated procedures, they also have a great role in the spread of corruption and in reinforcing despair and disappointment in ordinary people.

We all heard about the young man who committed suicide after being refused a job that he deserved for the favor of the son of an official.

Here I remember the conduct of Omar ibn al Khattab when some of his relatives went to him after being the caliph of Muslims saying "you know we are poor and we are your relatives"

He said "woe unto you! Do you want to eat on my expense and take off my good deeds?" and refused to give them but as any other Muslim.

It is said that the mother of Bush the father had a problem with the IRS. Some people advised her to seek help from her son but she refused saying law existed before my son and will remain after him.

Competence:

It is a temporary authority to help perform a certain task within a time frame.

For example, the prime minister in Egypt has the competences of the president of the republic in some situations.

The Security Director has the competences of a governor when absent or sick.

Generally, anybody tasked with a mission out of his authority is given certain competences by the higher position in order to perform his mission.

This must be a temporary situation. But the reality is not as such. Such people keep these exceptional competences even after finishing the task. They also use them for personal interests.

Some may say you have talked much about academic issues. I say: yes, may be. But this is not to escape from our bitter reality or that I fear for my future, which I care about no more. It is rather a kind of innovation for I feel desperate about what happens in our Arab and Islamic countries.

Back to Current Affairs