Despite recent news reports about the nabbing of corrupt bureaucrats on a routine basis by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), people are yet to feel respite from pervasive corruption.
People do take the CIAA seriously. When the CIAA alerted them about the dormant Social Practices (Reform) Act, 2033 (1976), they listened. The conspicuous consumption during the Teej festival declined, as women cut back on big and frequent parties. Now people are waiting to see how much the flashy expenditures during the marriage season can be controlled. In a country where the majority of the people are still considered poor, CIAA’s reactivation of the Social Reform Act to bring more social parity is appreciable. [break]
Extravagant expenses often help expose the corrupt, and social media is a vital tool in doing so. Recently, a wealthy Philippine businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles had to surrender before the President of her country after social media found her daughter relishing lavish vacations in Europe and the US. We in Nepal must also encourage social media to expose such corruption.
China, where serious efforts are afoot to root out corruption, has also been acting on the basis of the information available from the micro-blog posts and other online social networks to arrest the accused. Recently, Yang Dacai, a former Safety Inspection Official in Shaanxi Province, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of graft, after ordinary citizens blamed him of corrupt practices on social networks. Corruption can be combated more effectively when people themselves become active and inform on corrupt people through social networks.
But to make this a success, we need a strong anti-corruption legislation including freedom of information Act and a whistle-blower protection law.
Interestingly, legal professionals and intelligentsia have severely criticized the latest raid of five private (including two legal) firms by the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI). Nepal Bar Association has alleged the CIAA of putting pressure on DRI to investigate suspected tax evasion by the law firm of Shambhu Thapa, a senior advocate. It considers the raid a vendetta against Thapa, someone who had been campaigning against the appointment of Lok Man Singh Karki as CIAA head. Petitioned by Thapa’s law firm, Legal Advisory Forum, the Supreme Court immediately issued, without any hearing, a pre-stay order against the DRI and asked DRI officials to appear before the Court.
It may be recalled that the same lawyers were angry with the apex court’s decision to quash 17 cases about the head of government, Khil Raj Regmi, without any hearing. People wonder whether the Court’s current decision is meant to calm down the discontent over the summary dismissal of the 17 cases or is a tongue-in-chick favor. Whatever the truth, both the Supreme Court and CIAA need to uphold due process while making any decision or taking any action.
The CIAA has done a good job by bringing into its net officials of Nepal Electricity Authority, Foreign Employment Department and Nepal Police. According to informed sources, NEA had been purchasing substandard power transformers for many years. It had been acquiring 60 KVA transformers with a tag of 100 KVA, paying nearly double the actual price. The perpetrators of such crimes, including those at the top of the racket, should be harshly dealt with.
Transparency International Nepal in its 2013 report states that 70 percent of the people believe political parties are the most corrupt entities in the country, followed by 66 percent for the bureaucracy, 58 percent for the Police, 51 percent for the Parliament and judiciary and 27 percent for the army. The Global Corruption Perception Index 2012 ranks Nepal as 139th among 176 countries surveyed. Taking a cue from these reports, the anti-graft body needs to focus more on the institutions with higher corruption and greater public relations.
Corruption is pervasive in Nepal. Take the example of our roads. Even the roads completed in June this year have already developed potholes. The condition of our city roads is so bad that, during monsoon, vehicles may plunge into huge potholes and pedestrians showered with dirty waters from the shallow pools. CIAA officials travel on these roads several times a week. They are surely aware of the corruption on open display in these roads.
According to the Times of India, the people of Raipur city of the State of Chhattisgarh in India, tired of complaining about their road conditions, have now named the bigger potholes after the Chief Minister and the ministers for housing and public works.
Closer home, people have to waste four hours to cross the 10-kilometer stretch from Naubise to Nagdhunga, a lifeline for Kathmandu Valley. Repaired every year, the road remains in a bad shape, no matter how much the government spends. Hundreds of vehicles that ply the road every day pay road tax, but very little is known whether the money accrued from such tax goes to into government coffers. The CIAA needs to look into these important matters.
Public schools and colleges do not teach. Public hospitals do not treat. Water taps are dry. Public building and projects leak or collapse soon after construction finishes. Irrigation canals do not bring water to the fields. People do not get basic services without paying a bribe. Policymakers make policies favorable to those who pay them most in kickbacks. Politicians put pressure on the police to release arrested criminals. The police themselves let criminals go for a price. Traffic police cause congestion rather than ensuring smooth flow of traffic.
Incidentally, a two star Police General Djoko Susilo in Indonesia has recently been handed a 10-year prison sentence and a fine of US $44,691 by the Jakarta anti-corruption court. The court had found Susilo guilty of amassing a fortune of US $18 million while serving as Indonesia’s top traffic police officer.
In a country like Nepal where investments are low because of pervasive graft, the incompetent political leadership and bureaucracy have been strangling growth and scaring off investments. As such, cleaning up the culture of graft should be the CIAA’s priority so as to promote growth within the country and improve Nepal’s image abroad.
The effort to root out corruption must start at the top, not the bottom. The CIAA’s work so far looks encouraging from the outside. But it doesn’t show any significant progress in turning off the tap of corruption at the top, which could have ripple effects across the society. The CIAA has yet to touch a single politician, the most corrupt group according to the TI Nepal. Either the TI is wrong or the CIAA is also weighed down by political favors.
The CIAA chief, with cooperation from his team, can make history if he can work independently without any fear or favor. He should try and bring to justice even his mentors if they are guilty. But there is an equal possibility that he could take a low road by sparing his mentors while trying to extract revenge on those who opposed his appointment on principle. I am still cautiously hopeful that he will do the right thing.
The author is former foreign secretary
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