Peace Process

PRIME Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand once again called upon all political parties and Nepali people to get involved in the peace process from their respective fields in order to transform the present cease-fire between the government and Maoist rebels into a lasting peace in the country. Speaking at a function in Gorkha the other day, Prime Minister Chand said that peace was the need of the hour and it was the duty of all to extend helping hand to the government in peace building efforts by rising above petty and partisan interests. Peace process has been initiated after more than seven years of violence that has already claimed lives of more than 7000 people and destroyed the national property worth billions of rupees. Economy was ruined and development activities remained in virtual standstill. A sense of terror damaged Nepal's image of a peaceful Shangri-la in the world. Peace was, thus, desired and demanded by all Nepalese people and the international community, as nothing can be achieved by violence and killing. Right from the beginning, the present government accorded a high priority to the solution of the Maoist violence through peaceful negotiation and restoration of peace in the country. His Majesty the King, at the time of constituting the Council of Ministers, clearly entrusted the government with five main responsibilities including resolution of the Maoist problem and restoring peace. The recent cease-fire is thus the result of government's serious efforts and commitment to peace as well as the desire of the entire Nepali people. The Maoist problem remained unsolved and it continued to grow in the past. In the last seven years, all major parties went to power but they were unable to solve this problem and restore peace. The same parties are now raising doubt over the intention of peace process and their irresponsible statement and activities have now served as roadblock to the peace process. The government is committed to involve all political forces in the peace process, which Prime Minister Chand has repeatedly spoken of. The Prime Minister has called two all-party meetings and continued consultations with all political forces to discuss the code of conduct and modalities for the peace talks with the Maoists. However, some parties did not participate in the all-party meeting thereby staying away from fulfilling the great responsibility bestowed upon them by history. It is the time for all political parties and members of the civil society to bury all political differences and collectively work for the solution of Maoist problem and restoration of peace, in which lies the national interest of the country.

Oriented To Public

THE general public which has forever complained about the generally shoddy service from the government organisations had some reasons to be happy at the news some time ago that Public Service Monitoring and Inspection teams would monitor such offices to bring about a change in their workstyle to make them an effective deliverer of goods and services. Following the Public Service Operation, Monitoring and Inspection Ordinance, a team was formed about two months ago, to monitor government and other public offices. Since then the team which is responsible for Bagmati and Narayani zones has set up coordination centres in 13 districts and inspected and monitored eight ministries. According to the Coordinator for the two zones, the team has been able to make a breakthrough in containing corruption in the administration sector. It is indeed good news. Though perhaps it is too early to gauge the extent of reforms of the monitored organisations, it is heartening that signs of improvement are already visible. The public servants in these public offices are keeping to the 10-to-5 office hours, without playing truant as used to be the usual practice with many of them earlier. Similarly, the information that bribery in the offices such as Land Revenue, Tax Department and Customs has been controlled, is a good development. This followed the inspection team's clear-cut instruction to these offices to apply strict rules in the conduct of office business and put in place a proper system for the functioning of the offices marked by directives, circulars and regulations issued by the office chiefs.The importance of ensuring corruption-free, people-oriented and transparent administration can never be overemphasised. While the national campaign against corruption is continued by the constitutional anti-corruption body, it is teams like the present one that can help to install a measure of efficient system in the public service plagued by inefficiency and procrastination. As the second phase of its programme, the team plans to monitor 21 ministries, different corporations, development committees, funds, banks and public enterprises. Given that the team can seek explanation from employees and interrogate officials, or even take them to court if necessary, it can make a difference to the way government offices are being run at present if the inspectors do their job seriously. It will be an important task for the inspection teams to monitor central offices to see whether they are operating as per the policies and regulations, for the rippling effects of an efficient central office in the capital could easily pass on to its district offices. A system of reward and punishment for civil servants should also be a central element in the monitoring. The team should do all it can to turn public offices into real public-oriented offices that serve the public efficiently as they are supposed to.