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‘The Govt. Should Change Its Mentality’ - PRADEEP KUMAR SHRESTHA After being elected to the post of President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) unopposed five months ago, PRADEEP KUMAR SHRESTHA is devoting much of his time to the apex private sector body. "I want to involve in as many activities as possible," said the managing director of Panchakanya Group of Industries. An MBA with specialization on industrial and training courses, Shrestha, 39, believes in team work. He spoke his mind to KESHAB POUDEL and BHAGIRATH YOGI for about an hour at his office last week. Excerpts of the interview: How would you evaluate the performance of the government during its first six months? While evaluating the performance of the government, there are some positive aspects too. For example, exports is one the rise and there are indications that some new development projects are on the anvil. The private sector had high expectations after a stable government took over in May this year. But I must say that our expectations have not been fulfilled. The main reason for this is poor implementation aspects even if we have good policies. What we have said to the government now is that please tell the people only those things which you can accomplish. Otherwise, people will lose confidence upon the government. In order to bridge the crisis of confidence, the private sector has proposed a partnership approach with the government. As the industrial and business community believes in trade, not on aid, we think that the countryís industry and businesses will suffer further if the government doesnít change its mentality. So, how has been the response on the part of the government to your initiative? The government has not been able to tap on the goodwill of the business community. What we have seen is there is response to the issues we raise at the upper level of the government only. Because of lack of coordination between different departments within the same ministry and between the line ministries, down the ladder it is business as usual. We want to see that there emerges a larger consensus among political parties on the development-related issues. Right now, we have the tendency of passing the bucks. In fact, whoever is responsible he should be accountable. One should be rewarded and recognized or punished on the basis of his performance. How do you see the implementation of the Value Added Tax? One of the happiest things for the present government is implementation of VAT. The government has been able to set an example in entire South Asia by implementing it. For a country like ours where nature of business and scale of operation, standard and education is different than the developed world we have been able to implement it. Large number of our population is illiterate and they don't know about VAT. Despite reservations and differences within the business community, FNCCI supported the move to implement VAT. We hold positive view toward VAT, as it is a transparent tax system. But the government is still unprepared at the organizational level. The issue related to customs evaluation and income tax are yet to be settled. If we accept the self-tax assessment, the government must change its working nature. As VAT is new tax system, it needs to be acquainted to the people. This tax was introduced to offset the impact of the open border but it is not able to control the flow of goods entering into the country from across the border. There are large number of business communities who do not have VAT numbers. As such, even those who have registered with VAT office have started to rethink their decisions. The government has to give certain incentive to those who have registered with the VAT. There is a need of rewarding approach. More than 15,000 business firms have already registered with the VAT. Due to unauthorized trade, our industries are on the verge of collapse. There is corruption in the lower level of tax administration. If the VAT system fails, it will be due to the governmentís policy. How do you see the revenue policy of the government? The government has to develop a long-term strategy to raise the revenue. The government should not satisfy by looking periodic increment in the revenue. For instance, the revenue in current fiscal year is increasing due to large-scale export of Pashmina and other products. Will it continue? We want to support the government in its objective to accelerate the economic growth but the question is will it listen to us? The government has not made any effort to encourage genuine business in the country. In the name of cracking on the illegal traders, the government cannot justify actions against the genuine industrialists. How do you see our preparation to become the member of the World Trade Organization (WTO)? So far as WTO is concerned, FNCCI has organized programs to make the business community aware about the pros and cons of WTO membership for a country like Nepal. WTO as such is not bad. When and how it is going to affect the local industries depends on the country and its polices. For example, in the context of Nepal, we are linked with the global economy. There is an interdependency syndrome. We can not live in isolation. What we want is to amend all the rules and regulations before joining the WTO. The government has to take all precautions before joining the WTO. There is still a large number of business community who are skeptical about Nepalís joining WTO. There are certain advantages for the country like Nepal, as an LDC (Least Developed Country), by joining the WTO. When we become part of the global economy, we must get proper advantage. How do you see the present wave of labor dispute? There is a need to amend present labor acts. In the name of protection of labor certain provisions have been included in the labor act. We want that the Act should not only protect the rights of the labor it should also safeguard the right of the employer. We also have certain rights to protect our investment. At present, due to certain conditions, labors are taking advantages. Due to closure of the industries, large number of people are getting unemployed. And, it doesnít benefit anyone if investors shy way from investing in new ventures. What is your vision of the FNCCI in the new millennium? The Twenty-first century is going to be the century of human resources. Nepal should not ignore this fact. Nepal has to work out plan for its human resources utilization. Besides water resources and tourism, other sectors need to be focussed. Agro-sector is another important area where we can do a lot of things. Nepal can also be developed as a venue for quality higher education and health services where we can attract large number of people from our neighboring countries. We have every potential to develop our Information Technology sector. But we have very little possibility for the manufacturing industries as we have a very small market. It will be very difficult for the survival of mega industries here. As a small nation, we have certain advantages. After joining WTO, we get easy access to international markets. As part of the ìMillennium Round of Eventsî we are also inviting politicians from LDCs to tell them what is our vision. We are also setting up a cell to disseminate about WTO. We are trying to invite global business leaders to Nepal. We are also trying to organize programs to increase our export trade. How serious is the issue of corruption? It is one of the major agenda of the country. FNCCI is also aware about the need to reduce it. As a business community, we are most vulnerable to and victim of corruption. Industrialists and business communities are mostly victimized by the corruption. We are ready to cooperate the government on the issue of containing corruption. We want that there should not be political interference in bureaucracy. Too much interference makes people insecure which leads them toward corruption. How do you see the on going privatization efforts being carried out by the government? The government must show what it wants to do. There must be a transparent policy on privatization. It should not seem that the government is only shifting its problem. Currently the government is privatizing sick industries only but it should also privatize the profitable units. The success stories we have should be sold. At present, the delay in the process of privatization has cost our economy very much. We are not happy with the way the process of privatization is getting delayed. The government is not only losing private sectorís confidence; it is also sending wrong signals to international investors. The process of privatization should be time-bound. ‘Nepal Is In The Unfortunate Situation Of Facing A Double Burden’
— Dr. Klaus Wagner , WHO Representative WHO Representative Dr. Kalus Wagner has long experience in medical field. Wagner spoke to SPOTLIGHT on various issues : Excerpts : Welcome to Nepal. I understand that you arrived here only recently. What is your first impression regarding health status and health system in this country ? You are right, I arrived here only at the end of October 1999. This implies that my insight into the concrete situation in Nepal is still limited. But I believe I can benefit from my experience, which I could gain, in other Asian countries. Belonging to the category of least developed countries, Nepal is in the unfortunate situation of facing a double burden. On one side, it still has to struggle with many 'traditional' challenges, like Malaria, Diarrhoeal Diseases, Respiratory Infections, high Infant and Maternal Mortality Rates, Malnutrition — just to name a few. At the same time we are confronted with the resurgence of Tuberculosis claiming millions of lives worldwide. HIV/AIDS is on its way to become the main killer. Increased life expectancy and changing life styles — unfortunately vary often towards more hazardous behaviour — contribute to dramatic increases in a number of non-communicable diseases that can cause early death or disablement. Take only Cardiovascular Diseases, Cancer, or Diabetes. Not to forget a rise in all kinds of accidents. The health system in a developing country like Nepal is not prepared for that, the already scarce resources become overstretched. For that reason, the national health authorities have to set their priorities, and that means under the given circumstances to put emphasis on the unfinished agenda, the traditional challenges that are the major contributors to Nepal's disease burden. The Governmentís approach to delivering an Essential Health Care Package is an encouraging first step in that process. What you said about the double burden sounds gloomy. Wasn't it the goal of WHO to attain Health for All by the Year 2000 ? Did WHO fail ? These are certainly justified questions. Let me start with the last one. Who is WHO? It is not just the people holding a contract of a WHO staff member. It is the member countries. And these member countries make the decisions regarding priorities and policies for addressing these challenges, in their World Health Assembly that takes place every year in May. So, if we want to evaluate the results of our work we have to look at our common performance. I would not describe the situation as gloomy. It is serious, that is right, but not in a way that we have reason for becoming fatalistic. Health for All is on our banners as before. The thing is, when in 1978, the World Health Assembly decided to work towards this and gave a time frame of 2000 nobody could predict that the world would develop in a slightly different way than expected. Take your own country. You have seen tremendous political changes; you pursue the way of liberalization and privatisation. Not all consequences of these changes are conducive to improvement of health. Poverty breeds ill health, and as is well known poverty has not been reduced in the country. Large parts of the population have no or only very limited access to basic health care, particularly in remote areas. A steadily increasing private sector in health care delivery is changing the proportions. Not everybody can afford making use of it. We also have to understand that health is not the business of the Minister of Health alone. Health is very much a development issue, and that is why our Director-General, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland has urged all of us to reach out, to forge partnerships for health, across all sectors. And as I already said, we will definitely not give up our goal of Health for All. But we need to redefine its content in the light of the challenges of the 21st century, to make it realistic in the context of the individual countries. The Regional Health Declaration adopted by the Health Minister of the countries of the South-East Asia Region in 1998, provides a good guidance for that. What would you record on the plus side of the work of World Health Organization and its partners ? Thank you for referring to partners. Partnerships are, indeed, an indispensable prerequisite for any success. We enjoy a close co-operation and collaboration with numerous partners, be they from the Government side, from the UN system, from the large number of other development agencies or NGOs and, last but not least, from civil society. Only this collaboration has made it possible that poliomyelitis is now on the brink of eradication. We would not be able to eliminate leprosy in the near future without partnerships. The successful implementation of the DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment —w Short Course Therapy) strategy is making a positive impact on the cure rate of Tuberculosis thanks to the active involvement of the community level. And we should not forget the contribution made by WHO for the capacity building in various fields of health. Can we also eradicate Malaria ? For the time being and in the foreseeable future this is certainly not a realistic goal. What we are aiming at is to achieve a considerable reduction in the mortality from malaria, particularly among children and women who are most vulnerable. And again, this cannot be done by the health sector alone. Our Director-General has proclaimed the Roll Back Malaria Initiative, a term, which is not always and everywhere easily understood. But it actually expresses the main gist of it: as we cannot eradicate the disease with the present means given to us, we must do our best to reduce its impact, to increase the survival chances of people who are particularly vulnerable to the disease. And HIV/AIDS ? HIV/AIDS is even more complex and complicated. Right now there is only one way for reversing the very negative trend: to prevent the risk of getting infected. This has to do with human behaviour, and we know how difficult it is to change that. It is, however, not appropriate to just point fingers at people who are the victims if this disease. As long as there is poverty forcing young women into prostitution, as long as there are ruthless people who earn money through trafficking of women, and unless we are able to curb down the scourge of narcotic drugs, we will certainly not be able to cope with this menace which has the potential of annulling our development efforts. Health services have realistic chances for making a direct impact on preventing the infection, namely by ensuring safe blood supply for transfusions and by reducing the transmission of the virus from mother to child. Given the numerous tasks still to be tackled, would it be possible and useful to increase the financial inputs of WHO ? Money is, no doubt, important but it is not the wonder drug for curing all ailments. As you know, just a few days ago there was this meeting in the National Convention Centre where representatives of the international donor community, of His Majesty's Government, and of civil society discussed the effectiveness and efficiency of the use of foreign aid, of donor funds. One of the important findings was that aid does not work if there are no good policies. Without policies improperly directed funds can even have a negative effect, among others, by creating dependencies that are counterproductive to future sustainability. WHO is not a donor agency. WHO is a specialized, a technical agency. And one of our primary tasks is to help countries develop adequate policies and strategies. Good policies are a sound basis for realistic programmes that sometimes can achieve more even with less input. One of our main assets is the rich experience accumulated and expertise built up over the decades — expertise that often waits too long for being tapped and used. If you were given the opportunity to spell out three wishes or advices, what would you say ? Firstly, I think it is necessary to have continuity in the leadership of the health sector, throughout all levels. Only under this condition, will it be possible to have continuity in the planning and implementation of national health programmes. Secondly, I would like to appeal to the parliamentarians who participated in the Regional Conference of International Medical Parliamentarians here in Kathmandu in early November, to widely disseminate the content of the Call for Action aimed at the improvement of the health of vulnerable populations. The implementation of the recommended actions will be an important contribution towards making one of the basic human rights — the right to health — come true. And thirdly, I would like to appeal to all communities, to all people to become aware of their responsibility and of their potentials for doing something for their own health, and to act accordingly. |
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