PARLIAMENT APROVES PROPOSAL TO DISCUSS 11TH AMENDMENT TO INTRIM CONSTITUTION UPDATE

PARLAIMENT APPROVES PROPOSAL TO DISCUSS 11TH AMENDDMENT TO INTERIM CONSTITUTION

Kathmandu, 24 Nov.: Parliament Thursday approved by majority vote to discuss a proposal tabled by Energy Minister Post Bahadur Bogati to amend an interim constitution for the 11th time to form a state reorganization commission to form a state reorganization commission.
Bogati is also officiating deputy prime minister on behalf of Narayan Kazi Shrestha.
The legislature voted down a protest a protest notice of RPP-Nepal against the amendment proposal.
Parliament was adjourned until Saturday.
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OPINION

CORRUPT GROW RICHER, BOLDER

Kathmandu, 24 Nov.: Mounting economic crimes have eaten into the vitals of Nepal's economy. The past five years have been a period of unbridled, unprecedented impunity. Except for Chiranjivi Wagle of the Nepali Congress, no politician has been investigated properly for moving the court against those known to have accumulated vast amounts of wealth whose sources are not accounted for, Trikal Vastavik writes in People’s Review..
Interestingly, the present day "senior" leaders were the ones who shouted hoarse against corruption during the panchayat years. They were chock-a-block with wild accusations and rumors of the vilest kind. During the 1990 movement for the restoration of multiparty political system, they claimed that "Pampha Devi" (an oblique reference to Queen Aishwarya) had millions of dollars stashed away in foreign banks.
Once the interim government headed by Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was formed after the ban on political parties was formally lifted in April 2011, nothing was done to pursue the charges against "Pampha Devi", other royal family members and panchayat.
In the course of the 2005-6, a similar campaign was launched against King Gyanendra who was supposed to have transferred "billions" of dollars in Swiss and other foreign banks. The idea was to project him as a too much of a money-minded monarch so that his reputation would be denigrated, demonized and destroyed whatever the long-term consequences.
Once the new political changes began to take place, the charges were dropped. No investigations were done. It was not out of any desire for "let bygones be bygones" but because those involved in the campaign of vilifications did not believe in what they claimed as a matter of "political strategy". That the general public has not asked for investigations is an indication that the people were taken for a ride by the leaders in whom they reposed so much faith.
In fact, more than five years after the new political dispensation took over, very little money has been traced in foreign or domestic bank accounts named after the late King Birendra and his entire family.
The panchayat decades were not free from corruption. But it is far worse today, as is indicated by the lifestyles of the corrupt. In fact, corruption is the fastest growing industry in Nepal. It has thrived since 1990 and has outstripped all previous records in the last five years.
The most corrupt jerk if anyone asks why no serious efforts are made to trace the foreign banks. Fixers, tricksters and scamsters worm their way through political party patronage. They then make a vulgar display of their ill-gotten wealth. No one is ostracized for being corrupt or amassing wealth not accounted for or whose sources are not established.
Civil society members that mass media run after do not raise the issue; nor do "youth" leaders like Gagan Thapa or "bold" leaders Nar Hari Acharya. A relatively dark horse Gokarna Bista came out tops in the otherwise lackluster Jhala Nath Khanal coalition cabinet by simply doing some simple work with honesty. He got tough with government institutions that had outstanding dues to the electricity authority. The result was that millions of outstanding dues were settled after power supply was stooped to the defaulters. It is only in a country like ours that government institutions withhold payments for the utilities they avail of.
Bista also introduced practices that deprived the minister from dubious facilities and allowances. In other countries, such steps would be accounted for as nothing more than routine and normal. In our case, the performance was remarkable in view of previous ministers holding the same portfolio treating themselves to all sorts of perks and perquisites.
What Bista's modest action underscored is that greed gripped many of his predecessors who otherwise took every opportunity to perform sermons on hapless people how to "discharge their responsibilities honestly and to the benefit of society as a whole."
Although Baburam Bhattarai had praised Bista's performance, his cabinet has not been enthusiastic about giving continuity to what the UML minister had done, let alone improve upon what the latter did during his short stint in power in a coalition whose premier was shaky from the first day.
The big fish get away and the small ones are summoned at the doorsteps of the Commission for Investigation on Abuse of Authority (CIAA) that does not find any Maoist minister involved in a scam. Either the Maoists are incorruptible or the authorities concerned are spineless to investigate.
So the crux of the problem is that 22 years of multiparty democracy has not been able to check corruption in any significant measure, thanks to leaders that promoted their own coffers and pockets. For all practical purposes, the Republic of Nepal is nearing its sixth year. After the Koirala takeover in 2006 April, King Gyanendra functioned as a ceremonial head of state even if the Interim Constitution, as mandated by the democratically dissolved but questionably revived House of Representatives, formally announced the country a republic. What are the results? Worst case scenario in action without any rescue in sight.
The ruling coalition constituents are embroiled in intra-party differences, washing their dirty linen in public and yet talking of peace process and stability and prosperity and good governance and what have you.
Transparency International and all their funders are silent over key issues. Why do weapons producing countries in Europe pay heavy commissions for outdated weapons? Why are the Middle East countries allowed to buy sophisticated weapons? The answer: Because that keeps the weapons industry running. Weapons purchase involves big commissions transferred dubiously and often stashed away in the vaults of Swiss banks.

Sweden's Bofors company paid off "winding up charges" to influential individuals in India during Rajiv Gandhi rule. The amount in the mid-1980s value amounted to $640 million! The Scandinavian countries and Switzerland talk a lot about anti-corruption campaigns and good governance but they do NOTHING to check ill-gotten wealth landing up at European bank vaults. If the dubious transactions of the "commissions" were to be accounted for, the Scnadinavian countries would present a poor sight in the list of corruption index they presently flaunt with much swagger. Nepalis want the money stolen from them back to where it belongs.
In Nepal, the CIAA should be untainted by politicization and filled with independent, competent members. But, is it possible under the prevailing circumstances? In the answer we find the actual state of affairs in the country.
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