Owning up

When you are accountable for something, there are certain things you can and cannot do. Accountability is supposed to keep you out of trouble and create trust for you. Accountability creates obligations for an individual, an organisation, or a government to account for their activities, accept responsibility for those activities, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner. It also includes the responsibility for money or other entrusted property.

When you create trust through accountability, you are earning respect, transparency, and legitimacy. You can utilise it forever for your own benefit and the benefit of the nation. It creates a positive image which will go a long way in your favour. When we take responsibility for something, we cannot blame others for our faults. We cannot say we weren’t there or say that someone else was responsible. When we are responsible for something, we are obligated to fulfill that responsibility, no one else should fulfill our obligations.

Sometimes we pick or elect the wrong people to be accountable for a major task, like leading the country. The one with the power to choose the individual who is to be held accountable, also plays a major role in this process. They cannot get away from their responsibility as long as they are independent. In the Bangladeshi context, it is very difficult to be independent and not be pressurised and biased, but it is not impossible.

We can find a good number of examples of accountable individuals who are above controversy, around us. They are rare but they are there. They are not influenced by any kind of pressure. They are motivated to do the right thing for themselves and for others. You can distinguish them from far away, they are well-known and well-respected.

Accountability is a brand which helps get things done, like getting a job or being elected. Accountable individuals are assets, not liabilities. Accountability increases productivity and the overall progress of a nation or an organisation. The government should create an environment where people can work with accountability. The current situation is encouraging us to not be accountable; this is not how it should be.

Accountable individuals should be promoted to higher positions and should be elected for longer terms, but in reality the situation is the exact opposite. If you are not taking accountability for your actions, you are deceiving others, including yourself.

In my opinion, it is very difficult to reach the top without accountability, transparency, and legitimacy. When we are missing all these essential elements but still making some progress, we need to ask ourselves if the progress is sustainable. Lack of accountability can create trouble and thus ruin an organisation, or even a nation. They might lose the trust of clients or citizens in the long-run, which could be very difficult to get back.

We need to ask ourselves what our goal is. Do we want to stay longer to serve the clients, the citizens? Or are we in it to make some quick money and exit the scene, creating a bad name for ourselves in the process? We need to ask ourselves what our intensions are, and make sure they are known to everyone.

Even if we are not successful in our attempts, our intensions and efforts will be counted for positively, and those who are witnessing will appreciate that. Good intensions are necessary for accountability, transparency, and legitimacy. No one can stop us if our intensions are honest and clear.

There is a saying: If we do the same thing over and over again, we will get the same results. So, if we want better results, we have to do things differently. Short-sightedness does not give us the true picture. Some people like to do things that they are not supposed to do for short-term gains. Most of the time, we do not stop ourselves from making the mistakes because they are socially accepted. If everyone is doing something, then why should I not do it as well and reap the benefits in the process, right?

There are always social and political pressures to take the wrong path. Once someone takes the wrong path, it is very difficult to deviate. They get addicted to power, money, and other short-term benefits. In the current context, people around us encourage and advise us to do illegal and unethical things so that they can benefit from our wrongdoings. When the bad times come, these so-called friends or advisors disappear in no time, not caring at all about what happens to us.

Knowing we are not part of any wrongdoing and not causing any trouble in anyone’s lives will give us some peace of mind. We would be amazed to see how much we would be appreciated if we acknowledge our mistakes and try to correct them. The days when people would judge us for our mistakes are gone. Instead, they will respect us more if we acknowledge our mistakes and work to fix them. This should be the correct approach. It should make us better human beings and leaders. Everyone makes mistakes, but only heroes can admit to them and ask for forgiveness. There shouldn’t be any shame in self-correction, for in return, we will get more respect.