Youyang county government officials in Chongqing municipality have reportedly been given 3G mobile phones with GPS so that their movements can be tracked. Public money will also be used to pay their telephone bills. Such a practice could not only turn into a farce, but also raise officials' welfare requirements on the pretext of fighting corruption, says an article on eastday.com. Excerpts:

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True, the GPS monitors in the officials' 3G cell phones will help the higher authorities, or monitors, to keep track of their movements. But the officials can easily deceive their monitors if they want to.

Moreover, GPS can tell the monitors where the officials are but can never reveal what they are doing. So how do the higher authorities determine whether the officials are involved in corruption?

The use of the so-called latest technology to fight corruption is indeed a waste of money. Apart from paying for the 3G mobile phones, the local government also has to spend a huge amount to hire people to monitor the officials' movements and set up a special monitoring network.

But such a monitoring system will not provide any useful information aside from the officials' excuse for seeking reimbursements, which in turn raise public expenses.

The logic of fighting corruption through 3G mobile phones and GPS is flawed. The truth is that corrupt officials can get away even after being caught on camera if the charges against them are not proved.

Corruption can be eradicated only by limiting officials' power and controlling the flow of money to them.

Though it is hard to control officials' activities, they can be prevented from abusing public money if their power is reduced.