As in other developing and underdeveloped societies, politics and bureaucracy are corrupt domains in Nepal as well. Ganesh Rai, former chief of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), is an example of a bureaucrat who feeds on a corrupt political system nurtured by the inept ruling political classes.
The Ganesh Rai episode is a marker of a worrying trend. In the normal course of events, the cabinet decides on the transfers of all secretary and joint-secretary level officials. But Rai managed to worm his way into the Home Ministry from the reserve pool, apparently, without the knowledge of the cabinet. Not only that, he flew abroad right under the nose of the government in the capacity of the chief executive officer of KMC.
By the time, he had already been transferred to another department. This is indicative of an institutionalized culture of impunity, weak rule of law and lack of respect for bureaucratic decorum. If Bhattarai is determined to root out corruption and install a sense of discipline and probity in the bureaucracy, Rai´s case offers him an opportune moment. But it remains to be seen how the prime minister, who has been making a hue and cry over corruption, will bring to light the facts behind Rai´s clandestine transfer to the Home Ministry.
Experiences tell us that, besides the tough task of detecting corruption, our failure to focus on two other dimensions of the malaise is also a big hurdle towards clean governance. It is important to back any anti-corruption civic awareness campaign with adequate institutional and policy reforms. Our past efforts, sadly, failed to address these issues.
Nepal has a more active civil society, more media freedom, and stronger legal and and legislative oversight frameworks compared to other South Asian countries like Pakistan and Bhutan. Still, we are listed below them on corruption indices. Despite the legal infrastructure in place, political protectionism and week law enforcement are hindering anti-corruption efforts. Politicization of corruption cases and patronization of the corrupt have made prosecution extremely difficult. We only need to look at the large number of corruption cases pending in Nepali courts. The mindset of our politicians and bureaucrats who have learned to take short cuts to get ahead is another barrier towards clean governance.
Corruption in Nepal is pervasive as politicians work in cahoots with bureaucrats to embezzle vital development funds.
For all these reasons, Transparency International´s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranks Nepal on par with counties like Somalia, Afghanistan and Myanmar. Nepal was ranked 146th in 2010, three notches down from 2009. The reason for the slump in the rankings isn’t hard to see. The only anti-graft constitutional body remains defunct without its chief commissioner for almost six years.
Political parties are reluctant to fill up high-level positions at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for fear that they could come under its scanner too, as they did in 2002/3. The tug-of-war between the major parties in appointing their man as the CIAA chief has irreparably damaged the movement against corruption.
LOCAL MALAISE
It’s good news that the PM seems to have fathomed the depth of corruption in local bodies. "Local government bodies were emerging as a major corruption hub," he conceded at an interaction with journalists recently. “Now I have started checking misuse of funds inside the local government entities,” he vowed. But dismantling the vicious nexus between politicians and bureaucrats will not be an easy job.
Local bodies are the lowest units of government´s service delivery mechanism. When they are not in order, people can´t expect smooth public service delivery and effective execution of development works. The government has been increasing the grants for local bodies every year but their capacity to manage resources remains dismal, with billions of rupees unaccounted for.
The corruption at the local level has been made worse by the absence of elected representatives in the local bodies since 2002. The political transition has only added fuel to the fire. At a time when the absence of local government has slowed down the development process, local political mechanism is working in cahoots with local body staffs to stash away precious development resources. A case in Bara district illustrates this trend. There, political parties in cahoots with local body officials embezzled over Rs 60 million of development budget last fiscal year. The colossal amount was apparently spent on 400 ‘small programs’, but it is more likely that they lined up the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats.
A secretary at Saibu Village Development Committee (VDC) in Lalitpur recently gobbled up Rs 7.7 million, distributing the proceeds among all political actors at the grassroots. Everybody shares the pie and no one is willing to speak up. In another case, a VDC secretary misused the entire development fund. The Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) is hardy aware of this sordid reality as its monitoring and supervision mechanisms at the municipal, district and village level barely function. As the PM puts it, local bodies have tuned into “corruption hubs”.
According to MoLD, only 75 to 80 percent of the total development budget (Rs. 22 billion) was spent last fiscal year, of which a large chunk is still unaccounted for. Similarly, various reports of the CIAA also make amply clear the insalubrious effect of the absence of elected representatives.
A 22-page report prepared by the National Vigilance Centre last year also revealed rampant fiscal indiscipline and misappropriation of funds within the KMC. There is no accurate record of income and expenditure and the financial irregularities have crossed the limit, the NVC report says. In yet another ranking of the MoLD, KMC was placed at the bottom of its performance matrix. KMC had failed to meet the minimum criteria for a government body and was ranked the worst in terms of transparency.
KMC is just representative of the vicious cycle of corruption and mismanagement that has spread its roots in the local bodies. If the situation at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City is bleak, what must it be like in other bodies around the country?
Transparency and accountability are critical to restoring trust and turning back the tide of corruption. Only robust institutions of oversight and smarter legal frameworks with effective enforcement mechanism will be enough to combat corruption. These measures would also lead to an increased trust in public institutions, sustained economic growth and more effective development process.
Till date, a lukewarm approach to anti-corruption, judicial lethargy and lack of political will have contributed to promotion of impunity. People with fat purses can easily escape judicial proceedings. This trend will continue unless the government and political parties consider corruption as "pure crime" requiring stringent legal actions. Only when our politicians cease to see corruption through politically-colored lens can Nepal fare well in global graft indices and make a significant dent on tackling graft.
pbhattarai2001@gmail.com
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