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Kathmandu, Thursday, November 18, 1999 Marga 02nd, 2056.
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Ineffective
CIAA
Increasing financial
irregularities and misuse of public authority have raised doubts
regarding the efficacy of government policy especially in relation to
corruption. Otherwise, Kathmandu Municipal Corporation (KMC) would not
have taken so long to respond to the Commission for Investigation of
Abuse of Authority’s (CIAA) inquiry regarding allegations that the
mayor had misused his authority and indulged in financial
irregularities. This only happens to be a case that has come out into
the open. The truth is that due to lack of firm commitment and absence
of effective law, corruption in
public corporations is apparently considered as ‘the done thing’
if not as something normal.
CIAA had issued the
inquiry letter to KMC on the basis of charges filed by the UML party.
The charges were: the mayor had appointed staff illegally and had
taken payoffs at the time of awarding contracts to collect octroi. The
allegation is that mayor Sthapit appointed an assistant officer to
collect an estimated 390 million rupees. While this is on the one
hand, certainly an act in violation of KMC regulations, on the other,
the way the mayor appointed the assistant officer, apart from other
appointments he made without creating vacancies, strengthens the
suspicion that the mayor was involved in financial irregularities.
The only question that
needs to be answered now is whether the same old story will be
repeated this time around also. Unlike in the past, will the CIAA
really be able to fully investigate the mayor’s acts of commissions
and omissions and take action against him if the charges hold ? There
is no doubt an overriding need for the government to set a precedent
that sends one message clearly, that corruption will not be tolerated,
but Mayor Sthapit’s case should begin a crusade against corruption
and misuse of authority that is rampant among politicians and
bureaucrats.
Unfortunately, action
against corrupt politicians or officials who have virtually put public
corporations on the brink of collapse, has never been forthcoming. The
state-controlled anti-corruption body has so far taken up as many as
27 cases of corruption involving businessmen, politicians and
bureaucrats. Surprisingly, in not a single case has it been able to
book the guilty. All the cases have been dismissed on the ground that
evidence is lacking. There is no doubt that political interference is
to be blamed for this. Moreover, it is also a fact that the government
has made no effort to ensure accountability among political leaders or
civil servants.
CIAA has become too
weak to be a threat to the corrupt and such people have been further
encouraged due to political protection and ineffective implementation
of laws. The government must realise that only a strong
anti-corruption body and effective implementation of laws can curb
these
untoward tendencies. Hence, the government has to empower the CIAA
before it investigates any case involving irregularities. Otherwise,
every investigation initiated by CIAA will end in a farce.
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