Nepal: Local State Administration and Corruption

Speaking at the parliament on October 14, 2014, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said that the corruption has reached the peak in the country in absence of the elected local governments for the last 17 years; the political leaders have failed in holding elections to the local government, says the news annexed to this write-up. He also said that giving money to the local governments is like ‘pouring water in sand’ means the local governments have been bottomless pits. The prime minister has either ignored or has been ignorance of the system was designed to corruption. Even the sincere person like Sushil Koirala could not escape from indulging in corruption. So, Mr. Koirala needed to put a system in place to eliminate corruption if not at least to minimize it.

Prime Minister Koirala needed to recall that the government headed by the leader of his party NC Sher Bahadur Deuba did not hold elections to the local governments in the early 2000 for the fear of the CPN-UML winning the elections overwhelmingly. Other governments also did not hold the elections not finding the favorable political environment to win the elections. Thus, the local governments had been without the elected officials for 17 years. How long the local government would remain so remains to be seen as the political leaders are not in a mood to hold the local elections, yet. Even, the NC is not in a hurry to hold the local elections that has hyped for holding the elections within six months of the elections to a new constituent assembly held on November 19, 2013.

So, blaming the political leadership, Prime Minister Koirala could not escape from the accountability for not holding the elections to the local governments for 17 years. However, holding elections and setting the local elected officials at the local governments would not curb the corruption at the local administration. We have seen that the elected government at the national level was as corrupt as the local level officials. Holding elections is not panacea for the rampant corruption.

If Prime Minister Koirala were sincere to reduce the corruption to a minimum then he needed to place a system that would punish the elected officials, ministers including the prime minister, political leaders, business leaders, civil society leaders in other words any corrupt persons if they were found to be corrupt. The system we have is made for corrupt politicians, officials, business people, civil society leaders and so on. Anybody working in this system could not escape from corruption such as bribery, fraud, distortion and so on.

Every Nepali knows that most of the politicians are corrupt. They have big houses, they have put on heavy weights and they spend huge money on wedding of their sons and daughters. They wore only flip-flops when they came to Kathmandu as the elected representatives of the people. Now, most of the top leaders have large houses in Kathmandu. Prime Minister Koirala should know that it is because of the lack of the system these political guys could steal the people’s money sitting on the ministerial chairs and at other elected offices. Clearly, we are lacking a system that would punish the corrupt person no matter whether s/he is a politician, civil society leader or a NGO worker.

So, if Prime Minister Koirala were to be honest in eliminating corruption he needed to develop a legal system that would prevent anybody from making money, abusing authority, favoring relatives, contractors and friends while in office. Mr. Koirala lamented for the political leadership including him not being able to hold elections to the local government for 17 years but he did not give a thought to develop a system for punishing his political colleagues living in large houses. He knows where the money has come from for his colleagues to build such large houses in Kathmandu. However, he could not do anything against them.

“He urged the Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to investigate cases of corruption more seriously. "The CIAA should arrest the accused only after investigations substantiate complaints filed at the commission," he (PM Koirala) said,” according to the news on Myrepublica.com. It indicated that PM Koirala has a soft corner for the people accused of corruption. PM Koirala knows that CIAA could not do anything without the hard evidences. Then why he needed to urge the CIAA for colleting proofs before arresting anybody for corruption charge.

Mr. Koirala also knew that the CIAA could not do much against the ministers not to mention the prime minister without the consent of the prime minister. If the CIAA were to investigate the incumbent ministers, the CIAA had to secure the approval of the prime minister. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba denied such an approval to the CIAA in 1990s when he was a prime minister. So, our system was made for the corrupt politicians and ministers. Why Mr. Koirala could not change this system made for the corruption, and place a new system that would eliminate corruption at its roots when his partners in the government and he had the two-thirds majority in the parliament.

The developed countries had a system that killed corruption at the roots. So, anybody involved in any sorts of corruption went to jail and paid the price for involving in corruption. Even in India former chief minister Jayalalitha went to the jail for having the assets more than what she could officially earn after 18 years of filing a corruption case against her. The justice was delayed but still the corrupt person could not escape from punishment.

BBC NEWS of September 27, 2014 states, “One of India's most colorful and controversial politicians, Jayaram Jayalalitha, has been sentenced to jail for four years on corruption charges in a case that has lasted for 18 years. The chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu was found guilty of amassing wealth of more than $10m (£6.1m), which was unaccounted for. She has to pay a 1bn rupee ($16m; £10m) fine and resign as chief minister.”

Even if a corrupt-minded person got elected to an office s/he could not do much for pocketing money in the developed countries. If s/he were to do so then s/he would land in a jail. So, the system prevented anybody indulging in corruption to the extent possible. However, we have the system even if a sincere person like Mr. Koirala elected to the office of prime minister could not do anything against corruption except for bemoaning the corruption going on at the local administration.

Hearing on the cases filed by the CIAA, the Special Court had sent four former NC ministers to the jail for less than 18 months for amassing huge assets not proportional to their earnings. Some of them stayed in the jail for 14 months. When they came out of the jail they received the heroes’ welcome from the NC cadres. Similarly, people engaged in various businesses making huge money from the illegal means go unpunished because they share the money with the people in power.

In absence of the system of eliminating corruption, even the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) could not do anything to stop the allegedly corrupt judges recommended by the Judicial Council for appointment to the justices of the Supreme Court of Nepal. The results have been the corruption cases against businesspersons, politicians and so on have got quashed at the Supreme Court of Nepal.

Nepalese rulers have made a system in such a way that even the PHSC could not do much to stop the allegedly corrupt judges getting the jobs of the justices at the Supreme Court of Nepal. Why Mr. Koirala did not think of putting a system that would punish such a Judicial Council that would dare to recommend the allegedly corrupt judges for the jobs at the Supreme Court, why he did not think of empowering the PHSC to stop the corrupt judges sneaking into the Supreme Court, why he did not think of empowering the CIAA so that it could take up the cases of corruption against the prime minister and ministers without the approval of anybody. However, Mr. Koirala simply lamented for the political leadership not being able to hold the elections to the local governments. It does not make him a clean prime minister.

“Koirala maintained that his government has given top priority to implementing a policy of zero tolerance for corruption right after the time he assumed office. "People have been arrested for minor acts of corruption while those involved in major corruption aren’t touched," said the prime minister”, the news on themyrepublica.com stated.

Obviously, Mr. Koirala could not grasp the idea of not having the system in place to hold back corruption. He did not like to understand that the main reason for not being able to punish the big shots involved in corruption was the lack of the system. The low level officials were arrested for corruption, as the system was for it.

He also has said that his government has the zero tolerance for the corruption. However, the government has not been able to do anything against the corrupt system. Mr. Koirala knows that the corrupt officials have been taking bribes from the people for the regular services the State officials have to deliver as their duty. However, his government and he could not do anything because they have no tools to fix the corrupt system.

Even Mr. Koirala might have to make an under-the-table payment to the officials of the land registration office elsewhere in Nepal if he were to get his land registered or transferred from his father’s name or even to purchase land. Everybody including Mr. Koirala knows it but he does not dare to fix it. CIAA has set up a complain box at every Land Registration Office. I doubt anybody has put any complaint in such a box. If anybody were to do so, s/he never might be able to get the land registration at the office.

“Prime Minister Koirala, while responding to lawmakers´ queries in the parliament on Tuesday, said that distributing budget funds to the local bodies has become like "pouring water in sand". He said the level of corruption at the grassroots was beyond belief”, says the news on Myrepublica.com.

Mr. Koirala knows that the local governments have been the bottomless pits but why he does not think of fixing it. He should fix not only the wrongs at the local administration but at the central level, too. He has been saying that even the distribution of relief materials to the flood and landslide victims has been full of irregularities. The system has made so. He has been sitting on the large sum of money the donors have so generously contributed to the prime minister’s fund for relief while the flood and landslide victims have been suffering from starvation, winter cold, disease, and the lack of means to work for livelihood. It is one of the main irregularities in using the fund intended for the flood and landslide victims, as the prime minister has failed to distribute the money to the flood and landslide victims at the time when they need it the most: they have lost everything to the floods and landslides, and they have been starving and living under the roofs of thin plastics when the winter has descend on them.

The Shah-Rana rulers had set a system that made them the rulers without accountability. They had been the executives, investigators and judges, too. They could do whatever they liked. They had remained above the law. The rulers squeezed the people to the extent possible leaving the common folks poor and destitute. Thus, they stole everything from the people for 240 years.

The Ranas had gone in 1951 but the mindset of the rulers that they were above the law remained. Since 1951 the Shah rulers had indirectly encouraged the ministers to be corrupt. They thought that it was easy to have a reason for firing a minister with corruption cases. So, ministers had been at the mercy of the Shah rulers even though they were elected during the Panchayat regime for 30 years from 1960 to 1990.

In 1990, the people’s movement forced the Shah king to dissolve the corrupt panchayat system, and sidelined him giving the way to the democratically elected government to run the administration. The elected government of the then Girija Prasad Koirala did not fix the corrupt system rather made it even worse taking the bribe not under-the-table but at the counter. Current Prime Minister Sushil Koirala was directly or indirectly involved in it as one of the NC leaders. The NC and then the CPN-UML rulers stole as much as they could from the people in 1990s.

In 2008, Nepalis removed the monarchy and made Nepal a republic but the corrupt system has continued, so the corruption, too. Prime Minister Koirala ignoring all these historical events simply blamed the local governments for not having the elected officials. He knew that the elected governments had been no less corrupt than the Shah-Rana rulers. The system had made the rulers so corrupt. Mr. Koirala needed to fix it immediately with his two-thirds majority in the current parliament to stop the continuation of politicians holding elected offices stealing everything possible belonging to the common folks.

The so-called Nepalese anti-corruption activists have criticized the ministers with the strongest possible words. They have made fun of the corrupt ministers and politicians in the media. However, none of them has said anything about the system that has made the prime minister and ministers and State officials possible to rob the people. Probably, some of these activists had been on the State jobs, too. They must have been knowingly or unknowingly corrupt, too. So, the system has been the main instrument for the ministers and officials to make money at the cost of the people. Prime Minister Koirala needed to make efforts on fixing the system.

Annex
Myrepublica.com
Corruption Rife For Failure To Hold Local Polls: PM
Level of corruption at grassroots beyond belief

Kathmandu, Oct 15, 2014: Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has said that corruption has of late become rampant nationwide because of the political leadership’s failure to hold elections for local bodies since around 17 years.

Prime Minister Koirala, while responding to lawmakers´ queries in parliament on Tuesday, said that distributing budget funds to the local bodies has become like "pouring water in sand". He said the level of corruption at the grassroots was beyond belief. "In the absence of elected representatives at local bodies, what is taking place is literally daylight robbery in the name of the people," he elaborated.

Stating that the situation would not have been so bad had local elections been held, Koirala said negotiations over the issue are still ongoing among the major political parties. "We are still negotiating to conduct local polls during November," the prime minister informed the lawmakers.

Elections for local bodies were last held in 1997 for a five-year tenure. Local bodies are being run without elected representatives since 2002.

Koirala said it was the duty of the government and the political leadership to conduct the local elections. During the election campaign last year the major political parties had committed themselves to holding local elections within six months after the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls, he recalled.

Koirala maintained that his government has given top priority to implementing a policy of zero tolerance for corruption right since the time he assumed office.

"People have been arrested for minor acts of corruption while those involved in major corruption aren’t touched," said the prime minister.

He urged the Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to investigate cases of corruption more seriously. "The CIAA should arrest the accused only after investigations substantiate complaints filed at the commission," he said.

Responding to lawmakers´ queries about the ministries and other government bodies, the prime minister said the government was preparing to restructure the National Planning Commission in view of the changed context.

ENDS

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