Political Accountability, A Myth

Accountability is a concept highly valued in all spheres of life. It means being answerable - taking or being assigned responsibility for something that one has done or is supposed to do, and then being liable for that. Private enterprises value accountability - from the entry-level worker to the executive, and even the board and people are held responsible for what they do. In public sector too, accountability is an established system. There are similar expectations of accountability from individuals in a society. Every person is supposed to adhere to various formal and informal codes of conduct, and numerous laws which govern the existence of the society.

It is quite paradoxical that accountability of politicians or political accountability seems to be such a mythical creature as to be almost nonexistent. Political accountability is the accountability of the government and politicians to the public and to legislative bodies, of which they are a part. This is the heart of democracy. Without political accountability, the system may reduce to autocracy and dictatorship. 

In a representative democracy, it is the responsibility of the elected representatives of the people to act in the best interests of society. It is the power of the common man to elect a group of people that is the foundation of democracy. The strength of democracy lies in the trust reposed by the electors on the elected in the form of electoral mandate. The delegation of power from citizens to representatives through the electoral mandate is at the core of democracy.

As long as political accountability remains a myth, democracy will continue  to be a system which falls sadly short of the society’s expectations from it.