A number of civil society activists and members of anti-corruption monitoring organizations at a gathering on Saturday said the new National Anti-Corruption Strategy, recently approved by the High Commission for Rule of Law, is “defective and incomplete” and will lead government’s anti-graft campaign to nowhere.

The CEO of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, Sayed Ikram Afzali, said the views of the civil society organizations have not been included in the strategy, adding that government has prepared the strategy to make the international community happy and garner their support.

“If government does not bring changes, including establishing a strong administrative mechanism for implementing the strategy, it will fail,” he told reporters at the event.

Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman Shahussain Murtazawi said government has already asked the civil society organizations for their recommendations on the anti-corruption strategy.

“The views and comments of different organizations, including civil society organizations and the international community have been included in this strategy,” said Murtazawi.

Based on the new strategy, the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOOAC) will be dismissed. However civil society activists said government is willing to dismiss the HOOAC at a time that no institution is tasked to fight corruption.

“People have not been consulted and if meetings were held with us, it was just symbolic and aimed at making the international community happy,” said Khan Zaman Mudabber,  member of the Equality for Peace and Democracy Organization.

“If the HOOAC is against the Constitution, then you (government) should dismiss more than 20 other institutions which have been established for personal interests of a number of individuals,” said Gul Ahmad Madadzai, deputy head of Afghanistan’s Lawyers Union.