In depth Analysis

Krishna Prasad playing losing hand!

Kathmandu: Regardless of congress publicity on the agreements that are said to have patched up the internal differences, party sources themselves state that the agreement merely cover up the differences and have by no means solved the problems. One indication of this, they say, is that former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba continues to maintain his separate contact office outside the party. Indeed, congress party workers themselves say that the office functions parallel to the official premises of the congress party at Teku, Kathmandu.

Of course, Prime Minister Koirala is off to New York and so his promise of a cabinet re-shuffle accommodating dissidents must be awaited. But the abrupt sacking of Rastra Bank Governor Tilak Rawal over whose appointment the Bhattarai ministry saw much quarrel is hardly any indicator of accommodation on part of the Girija lobby.

There are some hints that the rescheduled January congress convention will be crisis prone and may see the schism widened. Both Girija babu and detractors are hectically lobbying for support. There is little indication that the Bhattarai lobby is making any headway. The Koirala lobby has the advantage of government and resources. The Prime Minister, moreover, hold sway over the party central committee. He is said to pre-dominate the convention organizing committee and he is strong in the mid-western region where the convention is to take place.

Girija babu, further more, has made sure that his supporters will back his candidacy on firm grounds of "indispensability" in the midst of what they say is a looming crisis of survival for the party itself.

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai for sake of retaining his credibility in the faction can do little other than promise a change in anticipation of a yielding Girija. There is little reason, however, for Girija to yield. There is already the Matrika precedence in the early 1950s when the "commander"’ of the 1950 revolution lost the organization to B.P.Koirala once he vacated his post as party leader. The Matrika convention moreover has another indicator. More than the party pressure it was pressure from the then Indian political leadership that succeeded having Matrika relinquish his post as party chairman. Unless similar such pressures come-forth Girija babu appears strongly ensconced in his position regardless of what his detractors may do to and in the party.

It is this, which then must form the basis of analysis. Clearly, had Girija babu’s opposition in the party had the required numbers as claimed, the parliamentary party would have chosen a new leader. Had they the majority in the party working committee, Deuba would not have lost to Girija and the Bhattarai demands would have been very promptly acceded to in preparation of the Pokhara convention. It is therefore the lack of adequate strength that keeps Bhattarai at bay and there is little reason to suggest that he has gained in the "’supposed"’ agreements. It is likely therefore that Girija will win the Pokhara round also in which case attention must necessarily be focused on what the Bhattarai lobby will do.

TI president urges WB to strengthen anti-corruption work

Kathmandu: The Transparency International-TI-wants the World Bank to adopt a 10 point program to strengthen its anti-corruption program as the development institution prepares for its annual joint meetings with the International Monetary Fund in Prague in late September, says TI Chairman Peter Eigen.

"Our ten point agenda advocates broadening anti-corruption approaches in WB programs, enhancing efforts by the bank to partner with other organizations, reviewing lending programs to countries that are not pursuing anti-corruption strategies, creating new anti-bribery tools and other vital initiatives," Eigen said at the end of last month.

Eigen said the WB and the IMF, which have placed an increasing emphass on governmental corruption in recent years, must continue to address the issue and recognize corruption a a roadblock to expanded development.

The TI is to publish its Corruption Perceptions Index-CPI- on September 13 next week, which Dr.Eigen said is expected to leave no doubt that many countries still have a long way to go before governance levels can be regarded as satisfactory. "’The new data can only add urgency to the call to the WB to do more in this vital area and encourage all official development agencies to strengthen their anti-corruption efforts"’, said Eigen.

The ten point of the Transparency International is as follows: 1;Give corruption related initiatives more priority in broad based reform efforts like poverty reduction strategies and extend them beyond WB financed loans.2; Accept that other organizations, including cxivil society, have comparative advantages in advocacy work and in rebuilding corrupted institutions; actively share the anti-corruption work with these other organizations in line with their particular experience and expertise. 3;Reconsider lending levels for countries which do not have convincing anti-corruption reform programs in place and which do not collaborate with external efforts to promote such programs. 4; Require, if corruption is suspected, "Service Delivery Surveys" determining whether public services actually reach the intended beneficiaries, before additional loans are considered. 5; more aggressively promote and finance civil service reform. A key element here is civil service pay: in many countries many civil servants do not even receive a living wage, which adds to the pressure on them to accept bribes. 6; Establish a new vehicle for corruption reduction, an "Integrity Enhancement Program". This new type of program would be designed to consolidate a variety of cross-sectoral integrity initiatives of the WB. It would not replace, however, anti-corruption efforts accompanying sector specific loans. The new program would make it easier for the WB to effectively reinforce the efforts of other donors and particularly of relevant non-governmental organizations. 7; Introduce a consolidated blacklist of those debarred from further aid-financed business because they had been found to offer or provide bribes in connection with work financed by the WB, regional development banks and other aid agencies. 8; Support the application of the TI "Integrity Pact" to major bank-financed investments, where governments so request. On behalf of local civil society TI has pioneered in several countries this contractual agreement among all parties involved in procurement; it is now applied from Seoul to Milan and Bogota. 9; Devote a larger portion of WB’s research budget to corruption reduction, focusing particularly on exploring new approached to reduce corruption and helping to determine what types of anti-corruption measures work best under which circumstances. 10; Promote major campaigns by the International Finance Corporations-IFC, the WBs private sector affiliate, to strengthen business awareness that bribing foreign public officials is now a criminal offence in most exporting countries.

Peace Corps will continue to support Nepal says Schneider

Kathmandu: "The main aim of the Peace Corps volunteers is to provide training to the local men and women and enable them to work for the overall development of the nation", said Peace Corps Central Director Mark L Schneider at a press conference Sunday morning.

Mr. Schneider is the 15th Director of the Peace Corps and assumed this post on December 23, 1999.

"I have already visited The Philippines, Bangladesh and Nepal and my next destination would be Thailand", announced Schneider.

According to the central authority of the US Peace Corps, the institution of the peace corps concentrates on the following themes and areas in a particular country such as, for example, helping the developing countries learn the US society through US volunteers; to increase the number of trained personnel-men and women- and engage them later in the development of the nation and the likes.

At the moment the US volunteers are engaged in a variety of sectors in Nepal. For example, the Peace Corps volunteers could be found in education; water and sanitation; youth development; community development; community forestry; reproductive health; soil conservation extension and National Park conservation.

"Our objective is to work at all the levels and train the local citizens to manage their projects themselves", added the Chief of the Peace Corps.

By this time already a contingent of 4,000 US volunteers have worked in Nepal.

"The impact of the training offered to Nepalese citizens by our volunteers and that of our involvement in different discipline of the Nepalese society is visible ", said a beaming Schneider.

He also divulged the process begun decades and decades back would continue in Nepal. "We have already a new batch of the Peace Corps volunteers in Nepal who would begin their supportive actions soon", added Schneider.

Later the country director of the Peace Corps, Madame Mary Lou Snowden, to a query of this scribe opined that "we have positive relationships with ministries and that we work with community and the non-governmental organizations as well".

Schneider, 58, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador from 1966 to 1968 and is the second returned Peace Corps volunteer to head the agency.

Minister Gupta assures small newspapers of support

Kathmandu: The Communications minister in the Girija cabinet, Jay Prasad Gupta has assured the Nepalese media men that "some new measures are being taken by the ministry which if implemented would definitely go in favor of the journalists who own and edit the newspapers in thweir private capacities".

Minister Gupta’s assurances came last week at a media interaction program initiated by the newly established Editors’ and Publishers federation with the minister and his high level official at the ministry.

Lauding the role of the newspapers, the minister also recalled the "major" contributions extended to the 1990 movement by the then tabloids and hoped that with the new initiatives under consideration of the ministry would hopefully minimize the present financial constraints faced by those particular set of the newspapers.

Media men attending the conference enlightened the minister of their untold sufferings more specifically in the financial sector.

"We the peewee newspapers-the tabloids- are in a severe financial crisis which if not taken in to account sympathetically by the establishment might force the publishers to close down the business once and for all", said the president of the publishers’ federation Devendra Gautam.

Other editors present on the occasion also forwarded their views to the minister regarding the upliftment of the tabloids from the current crisis.

A consensus was observed among the editors and publishers who jointly asked the minister to arrange electronic main and the Internet facilities to those tabloids that were already on the Internet.

It was also felt that the Audit Bureau of Circulation must consider the Internet readership of those small newspapers who deliberate or otherwise have been rated below than what in effect it should have been on the scale of the Press Council.

The minister too subscribed to this feeling and told the attending journos that he would "look in to the matter seriously".

Study tour of Polish TV journalists

Kathmandu: Five Polish television journalists are visiting Nepal beginning today.

The Polish media men are coming after completing their weeklong trip to India.

During the brief sojourn of the Polish journalists in Kathmandu, they are expected to call on the heads of various media organizations. They are meeting, for example, the members of the editors and publishers federation; executive committee members of the Federation of the Nepalese Journalists, leaders of the Editor’s Society, Nepal.

The Polish delegation will also meet the communications minister, will possibly have a meeting with the high level officials of the Nepal Television. In addition to these meetings, the Polish journalists will meet other Nepalese dignitaries.

The friendly team from Poland has come to study the Nepalese culture and tradition and of course the contemporary Nepalese politics under the multi-party dispensation.

The Polish media men will be the guests of honor of the Nepal-Poland Friendship Association, Kathmandu.

Koirala’s agenda-less New York trip and Maoists’ presence in Kathmandu

Kathmandu: Leaving the entire national population at the mercy of the Maoists’, Nepal’s Prime Minister has left for an "program less" foreign jaunt with a team comprising of fifteen "’duffers" whose sole aim is to exploit the national exchequer for making the impending Dashain festival enjoyable.

Thanks the Nepali population in Brussels that they dared to hint the nation’s "strong" Prime minister that it was not an opportune moment for a foren trip instead he should have been in the country to sort out the Himalayan problems confronting the nation on practically all possible fronts.

The small section of the Nepalese living in Brussels reportedly held black flag demonstration when Koirala landed there-the first leg of his tour.

"’I will give priority to good governance; root out corruption from the national scene and that restore law and order situation back in the country", is what Koirala had assured the national population immediately after "deposing" his fast friend Premier Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from the coveted seat some five months ago.

However, as things stand today, the three point agenda of Koirala have not only remained intact, rather, honestly speaking, taken a worst turn.

Good governance has taken a back seat as the men enforcing good governance that is the bureaucrats have been forced to witness on a regular basis the "never ending but yet entertaining congress power-struggle".

Corruption at the highest levels have by all accounts increased simply because, notably for example, at time of the just ended power conflict between Koirala and Bhattarai, the nation saw the extensive use of the number two money to bring congress parliamentarians in one’s favor so that a befitting reply could be given to the other side.

Coming down to the restoration of the deteriorated law and order situation in the country, what could be best said of the same is that when the Maoists could hurl bomb at the private residence of the home minister, could explode a low intensity bomb at the very ramparts of the Mahendra Police Club and finally could force the deputy prime minister to flee from the areas of his travel only last week, the insurgents could repeat this act any where in the country as and when they wish to do so.

Above all, when the insurgents could manage to leave an unexploded bomb inside the house of the all powerful second man in the congress, Sushil Koirala, question could be asked as to who is now safe in this country?

The establishment under Koirala, say political pundits, is under the illusion that the insurgency could be brought to a total halt through the use of bullets and a tit-for-tat action against the rebellions. However, this has been not forthcoming. Only the initiation of the now stalled dialogue process could bring about a possible solution to this long stretched imbroglio. Unfortunately, Koirala prefers not the talks as is evident from Deuba’s utterances regarding the Maoists’ insurgency.

Neither the government nor the insurgents complied with the earnest request of the European Union and a host of other responsible international institutions that called on both the warring sides to end the violence and restore peace in the Kingdom.

The recent sporadic attacks made in the capital district by the insurgents at the places, which apparently enjoy "tight security systems", speaks the total absence of law and order situation in the country. This also means that the insurgents were very much in the capital and can make any politician or for that matter a leader their target.

Under such conditions, the inhabitants of the capital including the international community based here predictably have been forced to live terrified lives.

Resumption of dialogue and only dialogue with the Maoists’ will contribute to ease the current chaotic situation in the country. The Maoists should also calm down their anger and facilitate the atmosphere for the talks so that the killings of innocent Nepalese belonging to either side comes to a halt at least till the Nepalese festivities come to an end.

The government should also consider the demands of the insurgents for talks. If by agreeing to some of their demands an atmosphere for talks is made and innocent lives are saved would perhaps be an act of wisdom and not the otherwise, opine political scientists. Or else what is the solution? Adamancy on the part of both is causing strains in the minds of the innocent civilians undoubtedly.

Summing up the Nepali situation, what could be said is that the nation has become parentless and has no guardian to look after the genuine interests of the common men. This is a hard fact whether one likes it or not.

Jobless freed Kamaiyas might create problems

Kathmandu: The plight of Kamaiyas-the bonded laborers who had been freed from the clutches of the landlords through a government decree only in July this year- is simply disturbing.

Though they have been declared free by the establishment, however, their justifiable rehabilitation by the state remains yet unsettled.

The abrupt decision taken by the government in the favor of the bonded laborers though has been appreciated by responsible quarters here and abroad, but yet the leniency exhibited by the government with regard to their timely settlement is making the Kamaiyas restive, say sources close to the Kamaiyas.

Presumably, the Kamaiyas neither possesses sophisticated skills nor they were comfortably educated in the absence of which the freed bonded laborers are finding it very difficult to adjust to the completely changed context in which they now suddenly find themselves.

Reports have it that the freed Kamaiyas were neither being supported by the government at the moment nor do they receive any material support from their former masters.

" Such situation in which the Kamaiyas have been forced in at the moment might prompt a segment of the job-less youths to join the band of the Maoists’ insurgents only to feed their bowls", commented a social scientist to this newspaper Monday morning.

"When there is no job, no means to sustain one’s life, the unemployed one’s have little options left for them other than to jump onto a mission that is dangerous", added the social scientist.

The best way is to manage the livelihood of the unemployed ones by the state by creating job opportunities, concluded the same source.

To recall, the Maoists have in the recent weeks made an open call for young Nepalese youths to join their camp. Coincidentally, the government too has invited applications from youths for recruitment in the police force.

What a coincidence!

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