Politics and corruption

The Himalayan Times

6 February 2020

Politics and corruption

Nepal has been practicing parliamentary democracy for long with representation of elected people in the House of Representatives. All the representatives are elected by the people through the election process. A majority or coalition government is run by the parliamentary-elected Prime Minister, with his cabinet holding executive powers. Nepal is now experiencing three levels of government under the federal structure. All these governments are facing public criticisms for being involved in institutional corruption.

It was encouraging to know that Nepal has improved its rank in Global Corruption Index from 124^th to 113^th among 180 countries as per the recently published report of Transparency International “Political corruption” (THT, February 4, THT, Page 6). However, the government has been widely criticised for its inefficiency in controlling the level of corruption. In politics, corruption undermines democracy and good governance by avoiding formal processes. Corruption in elections and in the legislature reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the inefficient provision of services.

As pointed out in a survey conducted by International Transparency in 2016, 90 per cent of the people surveyed had said the political leaders and their parties were the most corrupt in Nepal. This clearly shows that the level of political corruption in Nepal is very high, which has directly or indirectly instigated institutional corruption that is widely seen in the bureaucratic and other semi or non-government organizations. This has obviously affected the overall health, education, social, economic and other sectors of the nation and its people. Who is to blame for this?

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj

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