LACK OF TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY FROM POLITICAL LEADERS - It is a matter of belief that not only the economic, sociocultural, political and legal mechanism of our country, but also the climatic structure, has been affected by other countries. But this is just a hypothesis, which is not true.The history of Nepal’s sovereignty indicates that our country neither needed the governing principles of other countries nor will it need them ever.Our mind has been so blocked that we are able to view only our deficits and inadequacies. But what about Nepal’s opportunities? Though Nepal is a landlocked country, it is enriched with a variety of natural resources like agro cash crops, medicinal herbs, hydroelectricity and tourism.Also, all of us seem to have forgotten that we are a rich country in terms of water resources. Besides the variety of natural resources, the one with the most scope and which urgently needs to be exploited is the country’s hydro resources. Some hypothetical problems that have prevented us from utilising our hydro resources are political instability, huge trade deficit, lack of capital, lack of skills, lack of technology and our landlocked nature.Of course, these problems may have affected the establishment of hydropower stations but these are minor. Instead of criticising and condemning the problem, let us think of a middle way to treat these problems as side problems or neutral as far as possible. Research shows that a lack of bargaining power is the main problems.Entrepre-neurs are ready to invest in a backup generator but they are not interested in contributing the same amount of capital to establish hydropower plants. Similarly, so-called economical people are ready to spend money on inverters and candles but they do not want to add money to a pool to build power projects.Being uncooperative individually to eradicate load-shedding and just blaming the government is said to be mind-blocked. If everyone comes to understand this blockage of the mind and gets ready to arrange capital for the establishment of hydropower stations rather than investing in backup systems, a remarkable amount would be collected and hydropower plants would be built. Corruption is a social evil with a pervasive nature. It is deeply rooted in society as a convention, tradition, psychological need and necessity with a regular practice not only in public services, but also in business transactions and in almost all walks of life. Like many other countries, corruption has been a big problem in Nepal. It is the major obstacle to economic and political reforms, accountability, transparency and good governance. All layers of the society have been adversely affected by corruption. Therefore, corruption control is the most urgent and imperative task to be accomplished in Nepal to establish a fair and transparent governance system. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has noted that a corruption culture has engulfed the country. At a function of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in the capital the other day, the prime minister said that corruption was a social crime and that the government was trying to end all types of corruption from every sector.Today Nepal is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world as per the Corruption Perceptions Index. The situation in Nepal is worsening largely due to lack of accountability of the leadership and effective public institutions. All the political parties condemn corruption publicly and have made electoral pledges against corruption. High officials of the government speak against corruption quite assertively. But in reality, they are not serious about controlling corruption in the country, otherwise corruption would not have been so deep-rooted in the country. Measures to control bribery and corruption need serious review. If corrupt individuals were to face justice irrespective of whether they hold important offices or small ones or hold high status or low status in society, the dream of downsizing corruption shouldn’t pose a big problem. The government needs to introduce anti-corruption measures by making public spending more transparent and public bodies more accountable.Corruption is the world´s most talked about issue. Fighting corruption is difficult but not impossible. There is a need for restructuring the social order to establish a corruption free society. People must be educated so that there is zero tolerance for it. Through education and awareness, they can refuse to pay bribes and bring change in their behaviour to think differently, show differently and act differently. Good governance, transparency and accountability are the vital forces to institutionalise democracy and speed up development. If our political leaders, bureaucrats discharge their commitment without bias or favour, work accountably, effective enforcement of laws would strengthen the capacity of rooting out corruption effectively. Only then will we have a nation that works together to guarantee the welfare of its people.Greater budgetary transparency enables better oversight, better access to credit, better policy choices and greater legitimacy. Without access to information, legislators, auditors, civil society groups, media and people cannot effectively participate in decision making nor can they hold the executive to account for the use of public resources and funds. Transparency and public participation enhance the credibility of policy choices and the effectiveness of policy interventions. Lack of transparency can lead to the selection of unpopular and inappropriate programmes and to corrupt and wasteful spending. Budget transparency can benefit countries financially, since more transparent budgets tend to have better access to international financial markets and lower borrowing costs- LIBERATION ARMED FORCE.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 10:22:08 +0000