Bring to book quick

The Parliamentary State Affairs Committee (SAC) presented its report on the misuse of  government vehicles at the Lower House the other day. SAC has had to submit such a report as former prime ministers, ministers and government officials refuse to return government vehicles that they have borrowed. Unfortunately, this is not the first time SAC has come up with such findings. It submitted such reports many times to minimize the misuse of state owned vehicles. However, former ministers, judges and government officials, instead of paying heed to such reports, continue to misuse the vehicles, and this with the full knowledge of successive governments. Had the governments paid attention to or taken strong action against those who have abused their authority and/or have misused vehicles, the country would not have been witness to such flagrant abuse on such a scale. The brand new Deuba government should now encourage a new sense of ethics along with the breath of fresh air it has brought into our national politics.

Ironically the SAC report underlines that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has himself since 1993 been misusing a motorcycle and a jeep which belonged to the Ministry of Home and the Nepal Oil Corporation. Deuba served under Girija Prasad Koirala as Home Minister for three years and became Prime Minister himself for almost one and half years after the mid-term elections. Yet, he seems to be blithely innocent of the political ethics and democratic values that should have become second nature by now for someone of his stature. Should he be brought to book for impropriety? Should we not take a leaf from the Americans who subjected the daughter of President George W Bush to punishment for improperly purchasing an alcoholic drink? Yet how could this country find the will to take action against the high and mighty of the land? Like Prime Minister Deuba, there are hundreds of politicians and high government officials misusing government vehicles. Some of them have rented vehicles for personal use with payments made out of the government treasury. Some have replaced old vehicles with new ones by misappropriating state funds. This apart, some state corporations have failed to register vehicles as such vehicles are never returned by their officials after they retire. Thus, the number of government vehicles being misused is more than what SAC has found.

It is sad but true that successive prime ministers have allowed government officials, judges
and parliamentarians to misuse government vehicles at cost to the state treasury. The NC-run governments—be they led by Bhattarai, Koirala or Deuba — must recognize that they have done nothing to prevent the widespread misuse of vehicles. Rather, they have flouted their own orders in this connection. The opposition parties have also failed to raise this issue in parliament. However, they cannot remain silent for ever, nor can the government keep overlooking such conduct. The government must introduce stringent measures to minimize the misuse of vehicles and to prevent misappropriation of state funds. Those who have misused the vehicles must be brought to book quick.

Is decentralization a solution to bring peace ?

By Dr Alok K Bohara

Increased accountability: Under the first scheme (due to Philip Graves), the political party is required to reveal their programs and the total government spending (for five years, for example) during the campaign. If they spend more than the promised amount, the political party themselves become liable to pay into a fund that could be used in, for example, retiring the national debt or in the case of Nepal, spend in the public school system perhaps. This scheme will prevent the policy makers from lying to the voters and then increasing spending associated with special interest group power to initiate programs with costs more than the benefits. Remember, the special interest groups make money by overbidding the projects and/or by compromising the quality of the projects, both with the full knowledge of the policy makers. The inflated cost is then shared by the policy makers and the special interest group. Sadly, since the public are generally kept in the dark about the collusive arrangement between the policy makers and the special interest groups, the voters tend to make uninformed decision about the political candidates, especially in a poor, illiterate, and rugged country like Nepal. Often, the press also abandons its watchdog role and gets into the game of voter manipulation in a partisan fashion.

In any case, under the proposed scheme, the policy makers will be reluctant to go along with the special interest power, enacting programmes that are inefficient and more costly. Because, the policy makers cannot pass on the cost of inefficient projects to the voters (through higher prices and/or higher taxes) and will not be able to share the inflated gains from the over-budgeted projects with the special interest groups; instead they have to incur the higher cost of projects themselves. Thus, under this scenario, the political parties will have no incentive in inflating the cost of projects (higher than benefits), and the special interest groups will have no incentive in paying for the services of the policy makers. It must be admitted, however, that the accounting process to assess the benefit and cost and the ratification ability of the public are requirements that a country should have in place for such a mechanism to succeed, which is not a trivial task. Nevertheless, what is underscored here is the importance of accountability.

At a minimum, making public the information regarding the lobbying activities and the campaign donation, the voters, with the help of an honest media, become more informed and are likely be able to better judge the real motive of the candidate running for an office. A complete protection and handsome reward for the whistle-blower may also go a long way. The community-supported rural Internet program may also be helpful in disseminating information in remote areas. The role of the press as a watchdog becomes increasingly more important too. A healthy democracy will then begin to emerge.

Proposed constitutional amendment: But to really change the rules of the game in a fundamental way in this country, the political elite needs to transfer its political and economic power to entities outside the capital, Kathmandu, that is, redefine the meaning of "Nepal." There are two elements to this recommendation: (1) a constitutional amendment allowing the five regional governors to be elected by the voters to go along with the elected bodies of the regional assemblies, and (2) a reverse revenue sharing mechanism (due to Dwight Lee), under which each development region shares a proportion of the tax revenue with the central government (not the other way around), with proportion being uniform over all regions. Under the current mechanism, the central government has a monopoly power to raise the revenue, which puts the local constituencies at the mercy of the central power. Consequently, many representatives spend much time trying to get projects for their constituencies without much thoughts to their relevance and/or efficiency (pork-barrel projects). The lobbying activities of the special interest groups get centralized, and they become powerful and effective. So, decentralization of the political and economic power will give those millions outside the valley a sense of economic and political independence, not to mention a sense of self determination.

Benefits of regional decentralization and power sharing: Most importantly, the proposed decentralized mechanism is likely to alter the political incentives in ways that 1) encourages the Kathmandu elite only to provide public goods that generate national benefits (eg, national security, national highways, national energy, immigration, and trade policies, public education, health, satellite communication, agricultural research), 2) increases discipline in government, 3) promotes responsible use of taxes, 4) reduces a sense of regional neglect and isolation, 5) reduces a free-riding problem, and 6) reduces what is otherwise a concentrated power of special-interest groups. Furthermore, a more powerful, independent, and publicly elected regional administration will be free to, for example, establish a publicly supported university system and vocational institutions, so as to increase human capital in sparsely populated and high-poverty rural areas, all without being at the mercy of the central elite. Similarly, a decentralized political structure is also free to make decisions to create market demands and linkages between its rural areas and the urban centres and promote tourism at the regional levels. They will also be independent to develop and use appropriate technology to overcome remoteness to create infrastructure to increase competitiveness. Furthermore, an increased healthy regional competition to create new investment opportunities is only good for the entire nation. Of course, like in any other democratic institutions, there needs to be a mechanism by which the central power can transfer resources to poor underdeveloped regions to combat the issue of fairness.

Under my proposed power-sharing mechanism, the central government can become more efficient by focusing on bigger and fewer projects such as, the transportation infrastructure, the communication network, adoption of new technology, dams and hydro powers and other various larger-scale public projects. With many decision making powers left at the hands of the regional political authorities, the central government can now devote their time effectively on issues such as, national defence, immigration, free-trade, water rights, and regional cooperation. Giving more political and economic rights and responsibilities to the regional entities, my proposal of regional decentralization will also solve the current regional conflicts. That is, this proposal may just provide a way-out for the warring parties (the central government and the Maoist rebels), currently at the negotiating tables, and save the country from further bloodbath. That is, regardless of the ultimate outcome that may ensue, the failed negotiation and a renewed conflict will impose huge costs on both sides. The nation at large will also suffer a huge economic loss. What I have proposed here is not a zero-sum game and can be seen by both parties as a way to avoid heavy costs.

Role and responsibility of other democracies: The United Kingdom and Spain have also recently instituted such a decentralized mechanism to solve their own, sometimes violent, regional discontent. Further, instead of just providing lip service, western democracies can and should do more to help this tiny Himalayan country by providing targeted investment opportunities in poverty-stricken regions based on decisions taken by the regional political bodies (eg, helping them establish agricultural university, vocational institutes, regional hydro powers, tourism infrastructure, and healthcare facilities) . If we were to take the plights of these rural people seriously and save the infant democracy, such help must be immediate and massive in nature. To them, preserving democracy in a poor Himalayan kingdom should be as important as supporting it in the strategic locations like the Balkans, the Middle East, or the far East Asia.

Concluding remarks: There are no quick fixes. Both the preventive and punitive measures must be undertaken to mitigate the problem of mismanagement, and it takes time to build public confidence (eg, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Nigeria are still reeling from their past misfortunes), and, most importantly, it cannot be legislated away simply by passing new laws or by creating anti-corruption investigative bodies. Even an authoritative communist state like China is mired with the problem and their draconian solution, shooting people found guilty of bribery, has not eradicated the problem. A somewhat decentralized governing system in India has still a long way to go in overcoming its corruption problem. The bottom line is that the country also needs a class of strong political leaders, who is less self-serving and has a political will- power to implement important institutional reforms, including a regional power-sharing arrangement, which will require a constitutional amendment. Most importantly, it demands much courage on the part of the political elite to do so voluntarily, especially regarding the latter.

(Concluded)

(The author is a Professor of Economics at the University of New Mexico, USA)

Revised budget

By Ghanashyam Ojha

Honourable Speaker, I am going to present the budget for the fiscal year 2001/02 at this joint session. As we all are aware, about 90 percent of our citizens are below the dreadline, we need to put in much effort to uplift their position. I, taking help from bald economists, have worked round -the-clock for three months to prepare this budget. We, at this hour should not forget the outputs we received from our previous budgets.

Hon’ble Speaker the previous slogan "Let’s make our village ourselves", did not work well. The "Bisheshwor with poor" was not any better as it scared off our poor people. The slogan generated fear psychosis, and they thought that the ghost of BP might haunt and harm them. Therefore, they rejected all the programs related to it. So, this time I have put " Use domestic products and be dependent" as our motto. Hopefully, you would appreciate it. But I am scared this motto too might meet the same fate as that of our KMC Mayor’s "My work my pride"...

Hon’ble Speaker the budget is allocated under following heads:

Defence

Our defence system is very weak. We have witnessed for the past ten years, how our lawmakers damage mikes, chairs, benches during the parliament session. So, I have decided to make individual iron cages for every lawmaker, preventing them from getting close to each other until the session adjourns. This way, we can save our national property and can prevent the fisticuffs practised in parliament in the past.

Agriculture

To put our motto into practice , we should start avoiding foreign goods. Since our country is agro-based, we need to encourage agriculture. Our country is rich in water resources, so I think fishery is the best agro- based industry in Nepal. There are many perennial rivers in the Terai region, if we release baby fishes into those rivers, people won’t have any problem even if floods and landslides hit the region.

Information Technology

Hon’ble Speaker, this is the age of Information Technology (IT). The world brags about modern technology. Our country too has already been affiliated to this IT. But I think we have been ignoring our indigenous resources while trying to adopt IT. Astrologers and witchdoctors if trained, can contribute brilliantly to this so-called technology. These astrologers had predicted the Royal massacre. They have also prophesied about who will be the next Prime Minister in Nepal. Even our "Santa politician" Bhattarai sometimes groans about his having another chance of becoming PM. So I would like to train this indigenous human resource, instead of IT. No technology can prove better than this.

Industry

Hon’ble Speaker, Since our economy is agrarian, I think Paan which is preferred by our senior leaders can be a flourishing industry here. Our neighbour India is a good market for this. The Paan industry does not require electricity.

Hon’ble Speaker I am sorry to say that all MPs have to state whether their wives hold fecundity. In the past some MPs were caught taking pregnancy allowances although they had undergone vasectomy .

However, I’ve decided to keep up with the old tradition of depending excessively on foreign loans and grants. Naturally, our budget will be donor-driven.

Thank you. And may Lord Pashupatinath save us all!

Sher Bahadur, Prachanda and ‘radical change’

By Basanta Lohani

When our country had no government for about ninety hours last week, momentous decisions were taken by the new government in the making and the Maoists in their prized role of awakening. The result was the cease-fire much to the relief of the common people. This has paved the way for a much sought after dialogue, expected to begin within this week. It is understood preparations are underway for direct talks between Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist supremo comrade Prachanda. To this end, political forces within the constitutional boundary and individuals worth the name are competing for a role in this event. This is precisely, to begin with, what the Maoists worked so hard all these years to secure, intimidating the government and the constituency bound politicians to accept them as a force to be reckoned with outside the political boundary. In this legitimacy gaining exercise, they have thoroughly succeeded.

On Sunday, February 4, 1996, unlike the government in the making, Deuba’s coalition government was already 145 days old. But Deuba did not even flip through the papers handed over to him by Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai through their parliamentary frontage, United People’s Front. It was the party’s forty-point demand. Least he bothered with the threat of the Maoists that they would cross over to the jungle for waging a war if the demand was not fulfilled. Perhaps he considered it another hilarious act of a practicing politician. Besides, as a young prime minister of forty-nine, he was onto his first official visit to India starting after six days on 11th. But the Maoists did cross on the 13th, and declared what they called a ‘People’s War’. On Monday, July 23, 2001, Deuba swung into action broadcasting his appeal over Radio Nepal for the cease-fire, a day after his appointment and even before taking the oath of office.

The difference is surely the difference of power at two different points in time. And, whether one likes it or not, this difference has come from the barrel of the gun. They have metamorphosed from a few Khukuri wielding young lads to a fighting force of thousands of gun toting youths within just five and half years. Even officially, more than two thousand people have died so far, mostly police, causing a change in the police force from the offensive fake encounter operation code named Kilo Sierra Two of 1998 to defensive retreat, even leaving the police posts at night for self protection as now seen in some parts of the Maoist fortified areas. This type of situation has emerged after a psychological defeat where they found themselves trapped fighting a losing battle. After the June 1 Royal Palace massacre, the biggest ever slaughter of policemen, numbering 41 in one day, took place on July 7 in a simultaneous attack in three districts against police outposts in Lamjung, Nuwakot and Gulmi.

Five days later on July 12, the Maoist abducted 71 policemen form Holeri police post in Rolpa district. This led prime minister Koirala, who was going back and forth to and from the palace for army deployment, to exert all out pressures on the King for army operation. For the first time, the army did move, cordoned off the Nuwagaon where the hostages were expected to be held and kept reinforcing its strength each day. The result was a standoff. The reason was perhaps because Koirala did not give a clear-cut mandate in writing to the army believed to have been agreed upon at the time of its movement. In the ensuing period, Koirala sensed his days were numbered because of what his lieutenants have described as ‘non-cooperation of the army’. And, thus, he was forced to resign when mounting pressures from all sides intensified further amidst his inability to handle the slipping situation. This is how Deuba has emerged much to the satisfaction of the Maoists, and being welcome by all. But the task for him is as uphill and slippery as the fighting mountain terrain.

This has coincided with the visit of the American Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca who assured Nepal that US has ‘no intention of looking at Nepal through the prism of any other nation’ and urged that cease fire would lead to permanent peace. Likewise it has coincided with India constructing the Marchawar barrage violating all international rules, regulations and norms, and threatening to inundate even Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha. This is a repeating of the story of Laxmanpur Barrage with India greedy for water at the cost of a weak and small neighbour where such water originates in its mighty Himalayas and flows perennially down to the Indian plains. This is something they cannot dare to do inside their own country and between the states.

At this new transit point, the efforts from both sides seem to be geared on confidence building exercises. Both have made gestures preparing the grounds for talks by releasing prisoners or hostages held on either side. So much so, Deuba has even referred ‘Maoist friends’ and granted them permission to hold their first public meeting, after five and half years, at Kathmandu’s Indrachowk when a week earlier the Koirala government was chasing them as terrorists. Koirala even now insists that he knows what the Maoist are and where they have been taking orders from but leaves it to history to inform the people. Deuba, after assuming his position on 27, declared that he would be getting the greatest cooperation from His Majesty the King in solving the Maoist problem and urged all political parties in evolving a national consensus to this end.

As it appears, the Maoist are much in a hurry to start the dialogue, may be they have already done enough home work, but once the dialogue starts pressure will be more on the government to bring it to a logical end because the government is starting not from a position of strength. The proposed dialogue may even be stalled as a war of nerves or due to non-convergence at a point of accord. In the mean time, Prachanda, through a press statement released on Saturday, has said: ‘when we talk of radical change, we are not talking of one party dictatorship. We are talking of a system of healthy competition between parties having different ideologies’. But he hastens to add ‘it would be misinterpretation to understand the matter of dialogue, talks, interim government and People’s Republic put forward by us in a different manner.

Their contention is clear. If they were to enter the political boundary in, as it is condition, there would be no need for any negotiations. They need to enter into a dialogue to negotiate to a stage, which is different from what exists at present. What we have achieved today through the people’s struggle and the subsequent constitution of 1990 is a parliamentary system of government with multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy. They are willing to go with a multiparty system but not with constitutional monarchy and, even to begin with, they demand their share of power through an interim arrangement. They talks this way in the name of people wanting to empower themselves. If they could get on their own what they are talking about, then there certainly would have been no need of any negotiation. Negotiations mean changing each other’s positions in terms of new perceptions and emerging situations for a greater cause but not getting exactly what one demands. This is the rudiment forming a basic focus towards any negotiated settlement.

The Maoists know this as well as anybody else and also the fact that their Republic is perhaps as romantic as that of Plato for any foreseeable future. But they can always keep it for their final goal like the classless society where the class struggle ceases because there would be no more contradictions. Or in the way one in deep spiritual meditation searches for liberation as a final stage of cosmic bliss. Their flexible posture behind a facade of rigid stance best reflects a psyche that is in haste for recognition from the government as a political force. This legitimacy is perhaps now due considering the strength they have gained out of, among other things, the greed and alarming contradictions that the democratic leaders have bred. The reality is they have emerged as a countervailing force. How they can get inside in a new power sharing arrangement is an area that may require an exhaustive discussion taking months if not years. It is not an easy proposition because it may involve constitutional amendment and even a change of constitution. The Maoists have been talking about a constitution drawn and adopted by a constituent assembly. This issue was raised in 1951 as well but in a different setting. Every Nepali has a right to exercise his will without infringing upon another Nepali’s rights and, thus, to safeguard our individual collectiveness, that is this country of ours. Let no one be a self-appointed guardian.