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| Kathmandu, Friday June 06, 2003 Jestha 23, 2060. |
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NORAD irked over fund misuse
in Humla
By Kosmos Biswokarma
OSLO, Norway, June 5 : Norwegian Agency for
Development Cooperation (NORAD) has shown serious concern over the misuse of funding for
girl students in remote Himalayan district of Humla.
This came in response to the news published in
The Kathmandu Post dated May 18 that "the grant given for the improvement of girl
education in Humla has been misused by employees and teachers of a school" in the
district.
After the publication of the news, Norwatch took
up the issue and published the story here. Norwatch is a Oslo-based bureau of
investigative journalists aimed at keeping a close watch at Norwegian-funded projects
abroad.
The news report, published in The Kathmandu Post
under the title "NORAD grant for Humla girls misused", had revealed that the
grant to meet the monthly fees of girls studying at Mansarovar Higher Secondary School in
Humla never materialised. The students were still paying their tuition fees despite the
provision of the grant to provide them free education.
The report had said that NORAD provided the
District Education Office in Humla Rs. 551,000 for 20 girls enrolled at the school every
year. The amount is spent for the girls’ monthly tuition fee, accommodation, food,
stationary and clothes.
It also said that about 2.2 million rupees have
already been released in the name of these girls for the last four years and none of the
girls has been able to pass the School Leaving Certificate examination during the period.
NORAD office here has taken up the issue very
seriously and has even asked the Department of Education in Kathmandu to follow it up,
Anne Glad Fredriksen who looks after Nepal projects in NORAD told Norwatch. "It has
been decided that the charges of corruption should first be investigated by the local
agency (Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority)," it quoted Anne as
saying.
Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Kathmandu
Marit Vedeld too agreed that CIAA should take up the case. "We still don’t know
if something illegal has happened, but we have taken up the case with Department of
Education and they have referred it to CIAA," Marit told Norwatch. "This
indicates that the contents of the news (in The Kathmandu Post) is being taken
seriously."
Norwatch also said that the funding does not
only include NORAD. The project in Humla is just a part of the Basic and Primary Education
Project II (BPEP-II) and NORAD has given 23 percent of the total funding. Other donors in
the project are Denmark, Finland, European Union and the World Bank while Nepal too has
allocated some amount.
NORAD has been supporting BPEP since 1997 and
granted about Kroner 20 million (Rs. 220 million) in 2001 while it plans to give away
about Kroner 30 million this year.
Norway provided a total assistance of Kroner 103
million (Rs. 1133 million) in 2001 and Kroner 104.7 million (Rs. 1151.7 million) in 2002
and plans to extend the same level of grant this year.
Norway has listed Nepal as one of the priority
countries in development cooperation after the Storting (Norway’s parliament) passed
a resolution in 1997. Apart from Nepal, the prioritised countries include Bangladesh,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
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