WIPE OUT CORRUPTION
The Kathmandu Post
13 April 2018
WIPE OUT
CORRUPTION
Since the days of Panchayat era,
absolute monarchy and multiparty parliamentary democracy, Nepali rulers have
continued to vow wiping out corruption from the country. However, nothing has
changed. Instead, Nepal has continued to slide down in the Transparency
International’s (TI) corruption index. In 2004, TI ranked Nepal in the 90th
position among 146 countries. This ranking was further plummeted to the 122nd
position among 189 countries in 2017. This worrisome trend and most
embarrassing situation will continue and persist in the days to come if the
political leaders of major parties fail to abruptly and strongly act in the
changed political context. Newly elected political leaders with high spirit of
serving the nation and its people for the next five years are the hopes of the
common people.
It has been common practice in
the past for the general people pointing their fingers to the politicians and
their coteries among the leading perpetrators of corrupt practices. This
situation has eroded public trust in the politicians and parties. The unstable
political environment in the past seemed to be a favourable condition for these
perpetrators to be corrupt. Also, the politicisation of all the government, semi
government institutions and security institutions was to blame for increasing
institutionalised corruption. Corruption is characterised by the deliberate
abuse or misuse of one’s authority or position.
Nepal has now entered into a federal
structure in accordance with the constitution. Provincial and federal
governments with strong political mandate are now in place. Prime Minister
K.P.Oli has been publicly saying that his government will have zero tolerance
for corruption. All the ministers in his cabinet and provincial ministers have
shown their commitment to wipe out corruption in the next five years. This
demands ending the tradition of abusing their official position to unduly
influence the state machinery to protect notorious goons, fugitives, convicted
criminals and black marketers, money launders and other corrupt people (“Catch the corrupt” April 8, Page 6).
Time has come for the Oli led government to empower the Commission for the
Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and let it independently work to lawfully
put the culprit behind bars-no matter their political connections.
Rai
Biren Bangdel
Maharajgunj
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2018-04-13/exploited-labour.html
