PM ‘s Counter Corruption Initiatives
Timely Action Needed

By Prakash Dahal

CORRUPTION knows no boundary and fears no check-posts. It is every where albeit it persists in different degrees in different times and climes.

Niccolo Machiavelli in The Discourse, III, writes, "Those who talk about the peoples of our day being given up to robbery and similar vices will find that they are all due to the fact that those who lead them behaved in like manner."

Truth

Machiavelli ‘s findings stand as a universal truth and, Nepal can by no means be an exception.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala thundered out the other day in public that he takes corruption as an invisible enemy.

Not only Koirala but all of them who preceded him in managing the state affairs invariably made public commitments to fight corruption and vowed to cleanse the country of such ills. But contrary to the rhetoric shed by politicians, the reality is that corruption goes on unabated.

Efforts are either superfluous or they flow surfacially while current of corruption goes deeper.

If politicians’ commitments, rhetoric or powerful eloquence alone could rein in the corrupt and root out bribery and other anomalies, there would be no such thing as corruption existing at least on our part of world. Because, politicians every where excel others in making speech. They have sonorous voice, powerful eloquence. Despite all these, corruption is very much there. And, no matter how best speech our politicians had been making, corruption, in our part of the world, seems not to even budge.

Our politicians may not even bribe others to look more corrupt as Pakistani politicians did to Nigerians for favor. Explaining how corruption is lethal in Pakistan, a Pakistani taxi driver, last year, told the visiting American journalist, ‘ We were number one in corruption index, however, we bribed the Nigerians to top the list so that we could save our face by becoming number two’.

This is not a joke. The story was written by the American journalist in the Herald Tribune.

How serious are our politicians, if they mean it, in curbing corruption?

There is no such scientific inventions made so far which could fathom the thought process or read the heart of the politicians. Therefore, technically it may be difficult to give an exact answer. One can only guess. And, the guessing game needs a rational basis. And, all reasoning that common men’s reasoning faculty could produce do not promises optimism. They are generally skeptical. They can become skeptical to the extent that they would not even trust the politicians they have had voted to power.

Now the question arises, if they don’t trust them, why they voted them? And the answer that may fit well to our context is the one given by Sir Bertrand Russell. Russell in one of his essays said, there is no democracy which honors his choice. He said, if he likes neither of the candidate from the republican or democrat, he won’t vote and stay back home. So what! His non voting will not bar some one from reaching Oval office.

Perhaps, we could even find the reason(s) why they don’t trust the politicians they voted to power.

All the arguments mentioned above present the problems—and no solution.

What should be solution then? Prime Minister Koirala’s words may have the honesty of mind and sincerity of purposes. But, are they sufficient enough to combat the nature and types of corruption we have? They may be needed as prerequisites to fight evils like corruption but they alone can’t hammer in all the nails that stick out. Since the Prime Minister is not an individual but an institution, his thought process or thought patterns cannot remain immune to those in the periphery. Those swarming around him may be the people with or without official standings. And, the politicians would never ever want to incur the displeasure of any one. The Prime Minister’s discerning faculty of mind and his wisdom can only resist the unhealthy and the unscrupulous influences. And, this is something which should either remain inherent or built through the experiences one has had over the period of his political career.

While this should constitute the basic foundation for waging battle against corruption, several other strategies may need to be evolved and bring into effect.

One such strategy should be based on what they call the "arm’s-length" principle, under which no personal or familial ties should be allowed to play any role in economic decision making, be it by private economic agents or by government officials.

Corruption, bribery or "hidden deals" has roots strewn around unknown and unseen and invisible places. Here, the Prime Minister is right when he says corruption is his invisible enemy. But, if it remains perpetually invisible and elusive, then the Prime Minister may never come in grip with it. One cannot shoot an arrow in darkness and hit the target.

Koirala may be right when he says corruption remains an invisible enemy for him. However, if he really wants to come in grips with it, then it shouldn’t remain an elusive or an invisible thing for long.

Corruption must be done away with. If Koirala can’t do it, somebody else will have to do.

The only thing is what costs are we prepared to pay to get rid of corruption?

Prescription

If we can’t set our house in order, outsiders are bound to intervene and instruct us how to do it as they did in President Daniel Moi’s Kenya. The drought stricken Kenyan faced aid drought after IMF lost its patience at the grotesque levels of looting by politicians and civil servants alike. And, the IMF imposed the toughest conditions: Kenyan parliament must pass a new corruption law and the details of the law have already been prescribed by the Fund. This is virtually a surrender of the country’s sovereignty. Now, Kenyans have no options other than crying over spilt milk.

And, before we face similar humiliation, its better we learn while the time is on our side.

Globalisation: Winners & Losers

THE total number of migrants around the world now surpasses 120 million-up from 75 million in 1965-and continues to grow. So says "Workers without Frontiers", a new book on the impact of globalization on global migration.

"In a world of winners and losers, the losers do not simply disappear, they seek somewhere else to go", says the book’s author, Peter Stalker.

The ability to find good jobs and earn much higher pay is the prime reason people are emigrating today:

A 1996 survey of 496 undocumented Mexicans in the United States found that they earned an average of US$31 per week in their last Mexican job compared to US$278 per week in the United States, an earnings ratio of 9:1

In 1997, Indonesian labourers earned US$0.28 per day in their country versus US$2 or more per day in neighbouring Malaysia.

In 1995, hourly labour costs in manufacturing stood at US$ 0.25 in India and China, US$0.46 in Thailand, US$0.60 in Russia, US$1.70 in Hungary and US$2.09 in Poland against US$13.77 in the United Kingdom, US$14.40 in Australia, US$16. 03 in Canada, US$17.20 in the United States, US$19.34 in France, US$23.66 in Japan and US$31.88 in Germany according to a study2 quoted by the author.

The book finds that falling prices for transportation and the increased speed of communication have changed the character of international migration, making it much less a permanent move. By 1990 air transport costs per mile had dropped to 20 per cent of their 1930 level. Between 1930 and 1996, the cost of a three-minute telephone conversation between London and New York fell from US$300 to US$1.

"These changes have made departures to unknown lands less daunting and traumatic," Stalker says. "Migration flows, as a result, have become more complex and diverse."

One major shift is that many more countries have become suppliers, receivers, or both of these of international labour migrants. An ILO analysis of current migration patterns in 152 countries showed that between 1970 and 1990, the number of countries classified as major receivers of labour immigrants rose from 39 to 67. Over the same 20 years, the number of countries designated as major international labour suppliers rose from 29 to 55.

As a sign of the increasing complexity of migration patterns, the number of countries which functioned as both major senders and receivers of migrants rose over the same period from four to 15.

Stalker points out that migration flows are "distorted by social and political pressures as host communities become more resistant to new arrivals". Governments which do little to interfere with flows of trade and finance "take much more resolute action when it comes to people," he says. This has little impact on the overall number of migrants worldwide, but it does affect migration patterns. It has also favored the emergence of a commercial "migration industry" helping migrants, for a fee, to secure visas, transportation and employment. And it has spurred the growth of illegal trafficking.

"In Europe in 1993, some 15 to 30 per cent of undocumented immigrants were thought to have used the services of traffickers," the book says. "In the case of asylum applications, the proportion is even higher: 20 to 40 per cent."

As an enterprise, trafficking is highly lucrative. Smuggling someone by car across an Eastern European border or by boat from Morocco to Spain might be worth US$500, but a sophisticated travel package for an undocumented migrant from China to the United States can cost up to US$30,000. The book quotes a study which estimates that the trafficking in undocumented migrants brings in from US$5 billion to US$7 billion per year.

"This illegal flow of workers has created a large market for forged documents," says the book, adding that Bangkok "has developed into a major production centre" for forged documents, mainly Korean and Japanese passports-worth about US$2,000 apiece - used by Chinese emigrants to travel on to other parts of the world.

"Many people also lubricate the flow of migrants by offering financing," Stalker points out. Some are long-term loans to be paid off over years. But short-term financing is also available. Bolivian peasants who wish to enter Argentina as tourists must show to immigration officials the equivalent of US$1,500 in spending money. This, says Stalker, "has created a new form of financial intermediary, demanding what must be a world record interest rate. For the hour or so it takes to cross the border, bus companies and others will lend migrants the necessary cash-for a 10% fee."

As always, differences in living standards explain the direction of migration flows. In terms of GDP per capita, the ratio between the United States and Mexico, for example, is 6 to 1. Between Germany and Poland, it is 11 to 1, Stalker says.

A more realistic indicator of the potential for migration is the difference in wage rates for occupations which are open to immigrants. These very considerably from country to country, though immigrants tend almost everywhere to be highly concentrated in certain sectors.

"In the United States, the sector in which the share of immigrants is highest is agriculture," the book says. "In Belgium and the Netherlands, it is the extractions and processing of minerals; in Denmark, Germany, Australia and Canada, it is manufacturing; in France and Luxembourg, it is construction and civil engineering; in the United Kingdom, it is services."

When a free and rapid exchange of information across national borders exists, such as between Mexico and the United States, migrant workers can be very sensitive to changes in the labour market. A US study, by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that when California’s economy boomed in the mid-to late 1980s, the state experienced brisk job growth and undocumented immigration peaked. On the other hand, when California suffered from a severe recession in the early 1990s, undocumented immigration fell.

Migration is also affected by conditions in the sending country. When the Mexican economy is in crisis, undocumented migration rises. One study concluded that a 10 per cent decrease in real wages in Mexico is associated with an 8 per cent increase in apprehensions of undocumented workers at the border.

The world has seen larger-scale migrations in previous eras-the slave trade and the European migration to the New World and Australia are cited as two examples in the book. The most brutal transfers of people from one country to another resulted from the slave trade. Prior to 1850, an estimated 15 million slaves were transported from Africa to the Americas, and during the century following the abolition of slavery, more than 30 million people were moved as indentured workers.

Millions more also travelled voluntarily. Between 1846 and 1939, some 59 million people left Europe, with most heading to the Americas, while others went to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

While many people are concerned about what they perceive as burgeoning international migration, the largest flows historically occurred in the 100 years after 1815. The peak year for immigration into the United States occurred in 1915, when 1.2 million immigrants arrived, equivalent to 1.2 per cent of the total American population at that time. In 1996, the U.S. received 996,000 immigrants, which came to just 0.35 per cent of the population.

(World of work)

The Scary Flight

By D.B. Rai

IT was monsoon season, just about this time of the year when I left Kathmandu for the country of milk and honey. Invariably, the land of plenty, with its greener pastures, invitingly open, had lured me into undertaking this sojourn. But the journey, made in the very beginning of 70s, nearly ended even before I could make it to my destination.

It was raining cats and dogs when I boarded the Fokker Friendship aircraft belonging to PIA. The plane took off for Dacca (now Dhaka), of the then undivided east Pakistan. Soon after the plane had become airborne, my misgivings, in anticipating a rough ride became a reality; the flight became wobbly, making the passengers scary. However, there was nothing much one could do under such circumstances. Instead, I concentrated hard on the rosy future I had been envisaging. My fore-boding was belied, atleast for the time being-the plane made a safe landing.

After an interlude of an hour or so, my next leg of travel began on a Boeing 707. The next destination was Karachi, which had to be traversed across the Indian subcontinent. My co-passengers were almost all Pakistanis, as Bangaladeshis of to-day were all called Pakistanis-Bangladesh was in the making.

Outside the aircraft, the rain was falling hard. Unmindful of the adverse weather condition, the plane took off. I believed such weather interferences were not going to influence the course of the flight; only to bemoan, my predilection later.

As the plane gained height, soft music was played to soothe the nerves of the passengers who had remained hushed.

But no sooner the aircraft reached its cruising altitude and steadied its course, it became apparent that the plane had penetrated into the raving monsoon clouds. The jet must have hit heavy turbulence for it began shaking and swaying, dropping and lifting much to the discomfiture of the passengers.

The turbulence, at times, were so violent that they sent hand carried articles flying over from the overhead luggage compartments and attending flight attendants tumbled. Screaming children and fainting women made me scared too. Fortunately, nobody got hurt since seatbelts were still fastened. I grabbed a "daily" to divert my attention but it was even worst - "PIA fokker crashed near Rawalpindi, killing all the passengers", read the headline.

The turbulence continued. My posture of serenity began fading. The only consolation came through the scurrying crew, who had remained unfazed by the rampaging turbulence. They showed no undue anxiety as I watch them closely.

But given the turmoil witnessed inside the aircraft, apprehension started sucking in. Across the aisle from where I was sitting, an elderly man of European extraction was reading, obviously, some religious text. Behind my seat another man was muttering religious verses. My dream of acquiring a materialistic status was slowly giving way to desperation and yet, whenever the passenger next to me cast an eye over me, I feigned bravado.

When there was no let up in the turbulence, a reign of fatalism was discernible-enen the children had stopped screaming. But then, suddenly the clouds vanished and the land down below became visible-the turbulent flight which had created terror, was eventually tamed.

As the plane landed, the man beside me, who had not spoken a word so far, began opening up. He told me, he had never encountered such a stormy flight during his, almost, fifteen years of air travel between these two cities. As we parted company, I wished him good luck for future flights.