Zero accountability

I have in my capacity as a teacher of management studies often lectured on the concepts of authority, power and responsibility. I’m amazed at how the concept of responsibility in particular – which seems so clear when lecturing to students – becomes completely muddled when required to be explained in the context of Nepal.
It was either Voltaire or Uncle Ben of ‘Spiderman’ fame (depending on your historical or pop culture reference) who told us that great power is often accompanied by great responsibility. While the provenance of this phrase may be disputed, what remains clear is that fulfilment of responsibility has not always followed the attainment of power, not just in Nepal but globally too.

It is a phenomenon that we the common citizens witness all too often in our own establishment. Our administrative lot are familiar with the concept of power whilst at the same time being complete strangers to its arguably more important bedfellow, responsibility. However, it’s not just the politicians and leaders who tend to be corrupted by power as Lord Acton so succinctly put it, but also us regular folk for whom great power only ever really comes with greater electricity bills.

Take for example the transport entrepreneurs (a misnomer if I ever came across one) who wield enormous power during the annual Dashain rush. Despite the police presence and their best intentions, fare paying customers are swindled year in year out by these people. Their responsibility lies in their duty to ensure that passengers are charged the correct fare for journeys to and from their destinations but what they end up doing is colluding and fleecing customers citing a variety of reasons such as shortage of vehicles, toll taxes, time of the year etc. Many of us have seen it first hand, and I fall victim to it every single year when travelling home for Dashain. This year the problem was made even worse because they apparently had to buy fuel on the black market for ‘any random inflated number’ to justify the high fares.

These types of situations are prevalent because it’s no longer a matter of shame if one is not able to live up to their responsibilities. Ethics no longer matter and we’ve stopped holding people responsible because passing the buck and playing the blame game is enough to drive any sane service seeker round the bend. It explains why the Maoists felt the need to come up with a 23 point code of conduct for their ministers. What else would explain the press conference and reminder to their ministers of their obligations to the people?

This perhaps has more to do with ethical conduct rather than the actual execution of duties but that hasn’t stopped people from having a dig on social media. Moreover, as our leaders lack even the basic education that we demand of our peons, drivers and cooks, it is probably a good thing to remind them of their duties towards the nation. Although the whole charade was an image building PR event for the Maoists (who could have easily done it privately) it is nevertheless telling that we all need to be reminded of our duties ever so often lest we forget our obligations.

While we half expect our politicians to bring shame on us it was extremely disheartening to see the national football team captain and players becoming embroiled in a match fixing controversy. While the presumption that a person is innocent until proven guilty holds for these alleged match fixers, the odds stacked against them do not look good. It is saddening because sports is the one discipline that we would expect some integrity in, at the very least when it came to the national team or fixtures.

Moreover, these players were people that our kids looked up to and responsible for maintaining the dignity of the country. The beautiful game being dragged through the mud should not be particularly surprising because ANFA (and FIFA – which is going through its own investigation) are both shambles in terms of being an organization and have been blighted by both corruption and mismanagement issues whilst being run by dictators.

I talk of these particular examples because they are relevant and visible indicators of our diminishing sense of individual responsibility. But this plague is widespread and there are countless instances and practices in which individuals and institutions shirk from their responsibilities for vested interests, a quick buck or personal favors. All the while it is us who are hustled, leaving us none the wiser. It happens in schools where we pay our children’s fees, in the banks where we transact, in hospitals all over the country, in the quality of the goods we buy and consume. It is even evident in the fuel that we so surreptitiously bought in the black market over the festive season.Welcome to the new normal!

gunjan.u@gmail.com