The study has found that every year, over Rs 20 billion is being embezzled from state funds going into local development. According to the study, the money funneled down to the local level is misappropriated, right from the planning to the implementation stage of local projects. The problem is most acute in the Hill and Tarai regions with up to 80 percent of the allocated sums going missing.
We are not surprised. The main problem with the local bodies right now is lack of accountability. The only way that these bodies can be made more accountable is through elected representatives, the cornerstones of a democratic system. The latest findings are an irrefutable proof, if any was needed, that Nepal’s political parties, irrespective of their political affiliations, are actively abetting corruption even as ‘good governance’ remains among their most-mouthed election slogans. Let’s consider the facts. The country’s chief anti-corruption body has been rendered toothless by the connivance of the major parties. Yes, they have recently agreed to hold local polls at the end of 2012, but given the volatile political situation of the country, again largely attributable to the parties’ dirty power games, it is by no means certain that the polls will be held on schedule.
The latest revelations have also questioned a hallow principle among development experts in Nepal. Of late, a consensus has been building that local people are the best equipped to bring meaningful changes in the society. Thus, the local consumer groups have been given more and more say on how the money going into local bodies is spent. But the ground realities hint that things are not so straightforward. It was quite a stretch of imagination to assume that consumer groups that do not need license to operate, that do not pay taxes and most surprisingly, cannot be held accountable for their actions, would maintain self-discipline without any oversight. It is bizarre because no human being is immune to the base motives induced by a potentially endless source of money.
We are not questioning the morality of anyone in particular; barely reiterating the nature of all human beings. Thus, in light of the latest revelations we would like the government to immediately stop the flow of money to local projects without first putting in place a strong, non-political oversight body. The importance of such a body cannot be overstated at this point in time. Second we would also like all political parties, especially the four main blocks, to start preparations for the local elections scheduled for 2012 in earnest. Failing these tasks, the credibility of the political parties, already on the rocks, is likely to further erode.
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