National The Telegraph - Weekly (Nepal)

NATIONAL

-ROBERT KERR, Director, American Center, Kathmandu

Many thanks to my good friend Narendra Upadhyaya for this invitation, and I must say that it is an honor to be in the podium with Ambassador Lemp of Germany. I can now email my friends back home that I have reached a higher league by being on the dais with a foreign ambassador.

And, at the same time, I must send my condolences to those in the audience who now needs to tolerate my ramblings. One of the realities about the Foreign Service is that the majority of us are not really experts on anything. Sure there are some notable exceptions, but for most of us, in the U.S. Foreign Service anyway, we are generalists, who know a little bit about a lot of things, but we get to travel the world and have high level access to very interesting and intelligent people. And, hopefully perhaps, some of that knowledge rubs off. At least it gives us courage to feel empowered to speak at gatherings such as these. Otherwise I would be at a loss standing in front of an audience such as you.

The subject I was asked to speak on today is "The Role of Media in Promoting Good Governance". And I have been thinking a lot over the past few days on the best strategy to do this. One paper that I read through in preparing my talk discussed the evolution of thej word "governance". And ij must say that the word "governance" was a new word to me when ij returned to graduate school in the 80s. as an undergraduate I studied computer science and mathematics, and we don't use conceptual words, such as "governance". Rather, when thinking about societal organization we would simply say "government". So I was gratified to learn, according to this paper anyway, that the actual use of the term "governance" is relatively new, and that there are a variety of definitions and uses for it by various institutions. For instance, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan refers to "Good Governance" as ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law; strengthening democracy; promoting transparency and capacity in public administration. The Tokyo Institute of Technology refers to the concept of "governance" as referring to the complex set of values, norms and processes and institutions by which society manages its development and resolves conflict, formally and informally. And they expand their definition by saying: "it involves the state, but also the civil society (economic and social actors,) community-based institutions and unstructured groups, including the media". For me I like both of these definitions because of the yeast and emphasis that is included in them. I like that Secretary General Annan includes the importance of human rights as fundamental to governance. And I like that the Tokyo Institute of Technology references the media as fundamentally included in the concept of governance. And to me this is an important springboard for my talk. That is when the Nepali people think of governance, and their aspirations for good governance, whether or not they use the actual term "governance" or not, they have a right to expect a high level of performance from the media. In other words, an evaluation of whether governance in Nepal is good or bad must include an evaluation of the performance of the media. You are part of the governance equation. And this should not surprise anyone conceptually. The Nepali Constitution, as does the American Constitution as enshrined in our Bill of Rights, includes the fight of a free press and freedom of expression (although I would point out in the current context that the UN charter forbids the use of the press to propagandize for war, violence against the state, or violence against individuals). As all here I'm sure know, media freedom is one of the issues that the U.S. government advocates for around the world and is a focal point in our annual human rights report. In developing our programs to advocate for democracy and democratic institutions we include the media as a fundamental democratic institution, the media is a part of governance equation. Furthermore, our belief is that all of the institutions in a democracy are equally important –that is the media, the bureaucracy, the political leadership, the army-they each have unique roles and responsibilities. But for a country to achieve "good governance"- and by definition we infer good democratic governance-each of these institutions must be functioning properly-again as far as we're concerned, following good democratic principles. To conclude this point, for Nepal to achieve "good governance" it has to have a good and independent media. Similarly, if you and others evaluate that Nepal does not have "good governance" it has to have a good and independent media. Similarly, if you and others evaluate that Nepal does not have "good governance", you need to look seriously at yourselves and the performance of the media to determine whether or not you are functioning at full speed.

Now the characteristics of a well functioning media are pretty obvious, so we don’t need to dwell on them for long before discussing the media in Nepal. They include, and certainly this is not a complete listing, others may add more:

Independence: a journalist must be able follow leads where they go and in conjunction with editors pursue stories according to his or her own judgement, and of course the stories themselves must reflect the investigations of the journalist without outside pressure. One constraint I see to journalists in Nepal is lack of transportation. It seems to me that in order to be an independent reporter it is fundamentally necessary to be able to be able to get where the stories are, which is difficult if adequate transportation is not available.

Integrity: Honesty and integrity are of course fundamental to a well functioning media, this goes without saying. Journalists with personal agendas or who are emotionally involved should be immediately removed from reporting on a particular story. While I'm not sure that it's a real fit, in Nepal-and I've seen this elsewhere as well-editors could do a better job of matching their headlines with their articles, or at least I particularly notice this with U.S. Embassy stories. I get amazed sometimes when I see a wild and inaccurate headline regarding an embassy story and then read a story that is balanced and well written. Sometimes we even call the journalist to challenge the headline then to be told: "I only wrote the story, I didn’t write the headline". So that point goes to the editors, the headlines really should match the story.

Investigation and Follow-up: the most important stories in a struggling democracy require commitment and thoroughness by the media. Stories on corruption or abuse of authority or unequal justice require long-term study. One serious concern that I have locally is that there is not adequate in-depth investigation in certain key sectors. During my relatively brief time in Nepal there have been several instances in which a story has hit the front pages, the government has promised an investigation or commission of inquiry, and then nothing happens. In such situations a fundamental responsibility of the media is to revive the issue if a satisfactory answer is not forthcoming.

There are other characteristics of course, but I think this is an adequate listing to springboard us into some observations about the media in Nepal, some observations that I might offer on how the media could improve its performance, and thus strengthen Nepal governance.

And please remember that these are my out side observations, there is no particular magic to them, or brilliant insights, just some of the thoughts that I have.

Nepal is a new democracy that is no secret. And it has made undeniable progress in many real and significant areas. 50 years ago life expectancy was 26, now it is 56. Literacy was less than 1%, now while still low it is much higher, and hopefully will be over 50% soon and approach 100% in the near future. There were no roads outside the Kathmandu valley, no universities, no East-West highway, only one high school in the entire country….etc,etc, etc….. It drives me crazy to read over and over again failed democracy this, and government not doing anything for the people that, because obviously democracy has been working and obviously the government has done good things. And I would point out that for a government with a budget of only ½ billion dollars per year in a country of 22 million people in a remote and rugged region, for the government to have achieved anything at all, especially in light of the unavoidable such as September 11, and the tragedies such as the high jacking and Royal Palace massacre, is a miracle. To put into further context, the government budget in Nepal is about $50 for each Nepali citizen, which has to go to health care, security, education, roads, trash removal, etc…whereas in the United States, including Federal, State and local governments, total government expenditure is closer to $30,000 for each US citizen. Now I am not brandishing these statistics to be a ra ra for the government is doing everything wrong bandwagon, where empirically many things are going right and getting better. Rather, the more constructive role for the media is to thoroughly and objectively investigate the performance of the bureaucracy and other aspects of governance, and follow through with these investigations. And I'll give some examples.

The "C" word. Corruption. Oh my God, its every where. The root cause of this insurgency is this corrupt government…and all the bureaucrats want to do is line their pockets. It's all very easy to say. The phrases just come rolling off the printing presses and everyone agrees. But, behind all the accusations, where is the meat, or "where's the beef?" as we say in the States. Sure corruption exists in Nepal. It exists in the States, it exists in Germany, and it exists everywhere. May be it exists in Nepal more than elsewhere, but from my observation more needs to be done by journalists to root it out and expose it and to follow through. Let's take the case of Lauda Air, the leased plane. Accusations on this issue were front-page news for months. Arrests were made. Bandhs were called that closed the government for days seriously affecting the tourist industry. The opposition demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister. Finally the plane was returned, but now Royal Nepal Airlines is so traumatized that it appears unable to get more aircraft into the country which is desperately needed if the industry is to grow. While I don’t have any statistics to back me up, I think it is fair to say that the Lauda Air deal is one of the factors contributing to the woes of the tourist industry. Yet, since the former Prime Minister's resignation I have read nothing about this case. Moreover, from all of the front-page stories, as far as I could see, the only concrete accusation dealt with the issue of the commission that was paid, which itself might be legal. So my question is what is the status of that case? If there were kickbacks pad as part of that commission, why aren't journalists still following the money trail? What happened to the court cases? To me this would have been a really easy story to pursue. The government accounts were really petty open on how much was paid for the plan and the tendering process. It should have been pretty easy to determine whether or not too much money was paid for that plane and whether or not anyone benefited illegally. If the commission was too high, why was it too high, or should it have been paid at all? Did people involve in the lease suddenly become wealthy? In other countries accusations of corruption are backed up by examples of ostentatious lifestyles of corrupt officials. For example, Ferdinand Marcos entered government poor, five years after becoming Philippine president he was one of the world's wealthiest men, it is pretty easy to determine that this did not happen through honest use of government resources. My point is that in Nepal you hear wild accusations, but I would be much more comfortable if the media thoroughly investigated stories with definitive, concrete examples.

Let's pursue this subject a little more, to the arena of petty corruption. I cant tell you how many times I have been told that it is impossible to get a driving license without paying bribe, or the traffic police always make up excuses to collect bribes for bogus offenses just before Dasain, etc….I have a friend who relayed that she followed the procedures to get a driving license and did not pay a bribe, but that's okay, every one makes the accusation, so I'll accept it at face value. Now, do something about it. To me it would be as simple as pie to send ten journalists to the licensing bureau with instructions to follow the correct procedures in obtaining a driving license, and then document their stories. On the traffic police, do a study. Interview 100 taxi drivers for their stories. But remember the role of the traffic police is to enforce the law, so their job is to issue tickets to wrongdoers. People say that the police just keep the money. Okay, investigate. The next time you get stopped for a violation, follow the procedure and see what happens. If you have to pay a fine, pay it, get a receipt, and investigate whether or not the fine is registered with the Motor Vehicle Bureau. If you are asked to pay a bribe, report on the officer and see what happens.

To me, that is the role for the media in achieving good governance. One story I would love to see written is on the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Health. To me, these are two most important government ministries in terms of their obligations to improve the quality of life. The Ministry of Education budget is $50 million per year. Given the population size, number of schools, school building projects, it is nothing. Follow the money trail, and report back what you find. How much goes for building new schools each year? Were those schools built? There are more than 1,000 high schools in the country now when previously there were none. So obviously not all of the money is being stolen. Likewise, there are now more than 1000 teachers on the payroll, so again, the money is being used. Find out where it is being used badly. I am constantly told that teacher in the country don’t go to class. May be, I don’t know. I don’t live in a village. I do know that several members of my staff did their primary schooling in remote areas, and somehow they learned to read and write. I assume they did not teach themselves. But the premise sounds good…teachers don’t attend class and this is a root cause for Maoist recruitment. Okay, prove it. Send a journalist to a random remote village to live for a week or two and observe what happens. Better still, send a reporter to a school to act as a teacher under cover for a semester to observe the teaching habits of fellow teachers do a similar exercise with the health system.

Enough, I think I have probably overstayed my time as keynote speaker. But I think my point on this is clear. To me the most important "role of the media" as an institution of governance is in its obligation and responsibility to seriousness. To avoid simplicity, and to be thorough and fair in its investigations, and if necessary in its accusations and that this attitude is part and parcel of achieving good governance for Nepal.

And let me conclude by relaying my personal feelings, and that is that I love Nepal. I love the countryside. I have near perfect colleagues, and wonderful friends. So my wish and the wish of the U.S. Government is for a peaceful and prosperous future. Nepal is going through a tough time right now. And in a very real sense thigh fight is a fight for the success of Nepal's democracy, and for the rights of each Nepali to vote for his or her government leaders, and for the rights of each Nepali to vote for his or her government leaders, and for the rights of those leaders to lead and to provide the good governance and security that you all need and deserve. To us it is so obvious that democracy is the best path for a stable future for Nepal. As is said at the beginning, it is obvious that Nepal has made progress in all areas and that it is only through a peaceful democracy that more and faster progress is possible. Many feel that development can be better, faster, and more efficient. Of course it can. This is true everywhere. And, it is your responsibility to do what you can to investigate honestly and fairly on issues that will make the system work better to achieve this goal.

Thank you.