Mr Gergen spoke on a number of issues about good leadership, but what caught my attention was how he articulated the role of a leader’s character. When asked about Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal he said, “We will never know if Nixon ordered [the wiretapping and burglary of the Democratic Party office]…but staffs get cues on how their leaders want them to act.” He then went on to say that he had little doubt that Nixon’s staff knew that Nixon would have wanted them to wiretap the democrats.
According to Gergen, a leader does not have to explicitly tell his subordinates how to behave. The staff gets ample cues on what is okay to do, and what is not okay to do. If the leader lacks decency, the whole organization can stink.
Gergen’s remark is particularly meaningful for Nepal today. In the last few weeks two rather unprecedented events have occurred. Two politicians have been convicted of bribery. Dol Bahadur Karki, a UML lawmaker, was convicted of corruption charges, fined NRs 100,000 , and was sentenced to jail for 6 months. He took bribes promising to get somebody a job as a police inspector. Chirangibi Wagle, one time big shot of the Congress party was also convicted of corruption. He was asked to cough up NRs 20 million and was sent to jail for 18 months. Mr Wagle was convicted for what he embezzled during his tenure as a cabinet minister.
It is tempting to believe that whatever crimes these two men committed were limited only to them. That would be a mistake. Chances are that many people shared the bribe taken by Mr Karki and Mr Wagle. Most likely their bosses knew what they were doing, but decided not to do anything about it. Possibly, their bosses shared the bribe directly or indirectly.
It is going to be virtually impossible to convict their bosses, because it will be tough to gather evidence against them. But it is important to remember that their bosses’ cues may have played a role.
That is why, to curb corruption, we need to adopt a top-bottom approach. The prime minister’s office, the cabinet, the members of parliament, the police chief and other important bodies ought to face a higher degree of scrutiny. When these powerful men and women are caught abusing power, they should be held accountable by the law of the land, and be punished harshly. This also makes economic sense. The cost of these folks abusing power is greater to the country.
Luckily, we are at a stage where we are drafting our constitution. As we draft this important document, we need to make sure that our main objective is not merely to maintain law and order, but also to protect Nepalis from its own government. We need to devise a system that makes it difficult for the corrupt to rise to the top, and if they do, limits the damage they can inflict
It is tempting to believe that whatever crimes these two men committed were limited only to them. That would be a mistake. Chances are that many people shared the bribe taken by Mr Karki and Mr Wagle. Most likely their bosses knew what they were doing, but decided not to do anything about it. Most likely their bosses shared the bribe, directly or indirectly.
To achieve this we can make some constitutional arrangements. We need to make sure that our Supreme Court is very independent and that judges are not scared to go after and punish the powerful. We need to make sure that the chief of the CIAA is not under the thumb of the prime minister. We need to make sure that the sitting prime minister can be tried in the court if he is suspected of corruption. These goals should be at the center of drafting the constitution.
Writer is an Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at Texas A&M International University in Texas, USA
680anand@gmail.com
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