Kathmandu, June 12:

Constituent Assembly members and leaders today said that a strong will is needed

on the part of political leadership to control corruption in the country.

They said agendas including corruption control have not been accorded priority.

“A strong leadership is needed to combat corruption,” Nepali Congress Constituent Assembly member Dr Minendra Rijal said.

He added that corruption can be controlled through a strong political will of the leadership.

“Good governance and institutional development should reach the grassroots level so that corruption can be controlled,” he added.

He was speaking at a programme organised by the United Nations Development Programme to launch its Asia Pacific Human Development Report.

The report was released in Nepal by the Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel.

The report stated that the corruption in judiciary, police and prosecutors is a challenge to the justice for common people, making their lives more complicated.

The report presents the state of corruption and human development in the countries of the Asia Pacific region.

Stating that the judiciary is facing corruption and irregularities, the report points at the need to check graft by reforming the judiciary.

UML CA member Shankar Pokhrel revealed that many genuine issues including corruption had been shadowed due to transitional politics.

“The first priority is to manage the transition. After that, we will work to resolve other problems,” he said. He added that the CA cannot set any time frame to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

Khim Lal Devkota, a Maoist Constituent Assembly member, however, said the society should play a proactive role to end nepotism and favouritism.

“At least the corrupt should not be honoured if we want to curb corruption,” he added.

Commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Appellate Court Judge Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai said discretion should be used by judges wisely, the lack of which could promote corruption. “To reduce the level of corruption, the discretionary power should be regulated.

There is a need of overall reform in the judiciary.” he added. “We can control

wrongdoings by enforcing guidelines to control the corruption in the judiciary,” Judge Bhattarai added.