Now what?

Published On: September 26, 2017 12:57 AM NPT


Corruption in Nepal is pervasive, infecting every sector. This is why Republica and its sister daily Nagarik have started a crusade against corruption in high places. It has not been an easy journey, as our journalists have faced multiple threats for exposing the corrupt; a defamation lawsuit was also filed against Nepal Republic Media. But we were not deterred. Our anti-corruption crusade claimed its first victim when the government on September 18 fired Gopal Khadka from the post of Managing Director of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the government-owned oil monopoly. Our investigations had unearthed a mountain of evidence of Khadka’s involvement in illegal activities and of his gross misuse of office. We are happy to note that on September 24, our crusade claimed its second high-profile victim when Dolindra Prasad Sharma was removed from the post of chairman and general manager of Sajha Publication, a government publisher of textbooks and literary works. While Khadka had amassed millions in illegal procurement of lands for new NOC depots, Sajha’s Sharma was guilty of making Sajha a recruiting ground for political cadres, of padding account books and diverting Sajha profits into his personal account, among his many other vices.   

These two cases are a proof that as pointless as the fight against official corruption can seem, as seemingly everyone from top to bottom are involved, the fight is worth it. Because the only way to clean up our government is one corrupt politician or bureaucrat at a time. These cases also show the vital role of free press in a democracy. With all three organs of the state corrupted, to one or the other degree, it is even more important that the unofficial fourth organ, the media, holds the power to account. But as happy as we are with recent developments, we don’t think they are enough. Those who misuse public resources for their personal benefit deserve to be prosecuted in a court of law. Only then will justice be done. But what we see is that corrupt top officials like Khadka and Sharma are relieved of their duties as punishment of their crimes—and this only after intense media pressure—but then they are left untouched. The same thing happened with Lokman Singh Karki, the disgraced CIAA chief who was forced out of office after intense public pressure. But if Karki was indeed involved in criminal activities, and which in fact were grounds for his dismissal, why wasn’t he arrested and tried?

The immunity for the corrupt and the criminal is in turn promoting a culture of impunity, and sending out a dangerous message. The message is that even if you wantonly break the law while occupying public office, and in the process accumulate great personal fortunes, the most that can happy to you is that you will be relieved of your duties. Meanwhile, you can happily enjoy all your ill-gotten wealth without any fear of prosecution. The right place for the likes of Karki, Khadka and Sharma is a prison. And throwing them in jail is also the only legitimate course of action that is available to the government, which cannot, in any way, protect criminals. 

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