MUSCAT, MAY 6 - The television programme ‘Nazaha’, produced by the State Audit Institution (SAI) with a view to enhancing the culture of integrity and partnership to protect public funds, will be telecast on the Sultanate TV channel and other local TV and radio channels in Ramadhan, a statement from the SAI said. The show, hosted by His Eminence Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad al Khalili, the Grand Mufti of the Sultanate, currently in its third edition, comes to demonstrate SAI’s vision on the important role media play in increasing awareness on the protection of public funds and integrity promotion. The episodes will also be available on the official SAI account on Youtube.
“This show ‘Nazaha’ comes in implementation of SAI Media and Awareness Plan 2019 that aims to achieve an optimal knowledge and impartial institutional and social behaviour through introducing a diverse content within religious, national, value and legal contexts,” said Dr Hamyar bin Nasser al Mahrooqi, Director of Awareness and Integrity Promotion Department at the SAI.
As for the primary objective of introducing the show in its 3rd edition, Dr Al Mahrooqi highlighted that awareness-raising programmes of SAI come within its determination to adopt the best practices in promoting integrity and combating corruption. SAI has been assigned with the mission of fighting corruption since 2014, along with the follow-up on the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption that stresses on the gravity of corruption and its negative implications on communities and human development, in addition to highlighting the significance of awareness to achieve efficient community participation.
Dr Al Mahrooqi has also stated that view rate of the programme and episodes circulation on social media reflect the success of the show in the past two years. This made SAI continues on the production of this programme in order to promote a culture of integrity towards public funds through educating the public on the relevant legitimate governance, mention of specific stories and situations, as well as explaining the benefit of legitimate livelihood and shedding light on the impact of fair practices on improving institutional performance.
“Such activities aim to raise integrity and illustrate the principle of partnership between SAI and other agencies subject to audit on the one hand, and between state entities and society on the other hand. They also ensure making the most of the available resources in order to achieve objectives of overall development in the Sultanate.”
Each episode of ‘Nazaha’ will deal with a specific topic, all of which fall under four main categories such as 1) Protection and inviolability of public funds, e.g. legitimate livelihood and bribery, 2) Individual’s responsibilities towards government job, e.g. streamlining procedures and work proficiency, 3) General values and integrity, e.g. integrity leading by example and self-censorship, and 4) The efficient use of resources, e.g. appropriate planning and fair execution.
In its endeavour to deliver the message of the programme to the public and in order to achieve inclusiveness of media content reach, the SAI has provided subtitles in English on the TV channels in addition to sign language.
The programme, as stated by Dr Al Mahrooqi, stresses on the fact that protection of public funds is a collective responsibility, and it is a religious, national and humane requirement. Each individual can contribute to the promotion of a culture of integrity through adopting righteous practices during the execution of job duties or when applying for services from different institutions. This will result eventually in achieving justice and equal opportunities, boosting the march of national development and achieving its objectives whose foundations were laid by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, may all bestow him with the good health and wellbeing.
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