With the CPI showing no improvement, whatever has happened to our leaders' repeated pledges not to tolerate corruption?
It surprises no one that Nepal has failed to improve its global standing in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), retaining its 117th position in 2021 as in the previous year. The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world according to their perceived levels of public sector corruption by experts and business people. The countries are ranked on a scale from 0 to 100, from the highly corrupt to the very clean. Denmark, New Zealand and Finland are perceived to be the least corrupt countries in the world, with 88 points each, while Syria, Somalia and South Sudan have the worst scores of 13-11. Among the South Asian countries, India came out the cleanest after Bhutan, with a score of 40 and a rank of 85 while Bangladesh, with a score of 26, ranked 147th.
With a score of 33 points out of 100, which is a point lower than what it was in 2019, Nepal is thus the third most corrupt country in the region after Bangladesh and Pakistan. Although the scores have varied over the years, overall corruption has shown a slight decrease over the last one decade. From a low of 27 points in 2011, the scores had started improving after 2015, with the promulgation of the new constitution, with the country scoring a high of 34 points in 2019.
Transparency International (TI), which publishes the report annually, covers various aspects of corruption to arrive at a conclusion. They include bribery, diversion of public funds, and effective persecution of corruption cases, adequate legal framework, access to information and legal protections for whistleblowers, journalists and investigators. It, however, does not cover issues of financial crimes such as tax fraud and money laundering. While corruption takes different forms in different countries, this year's scores in all regions of the globe show stagnancy in fighting public sector corruption.
As anti-corruption efforts stand still worldwide, with institutional checks and balances in decay, TI fears human rights and democracy will come under assault.
As Nepal shows no improvement in the perceived corruption level in the country, one is forced to question, whatever has happened to our leaders' repeated pledges not to tolerate corruption? It is not that efforts have not been made to curb it. Right after multi-party democracy was ushered in the country in 1990, Nepal embarked on putting constitutional arrangements in place to discourage corruption at all levels and in all sectors. Prominent among them were the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Act, Corruption Prevention Act, Judicial Council Act, Special Court Act, Revenue Leakage Act, Good Governance Act, Right to Information Act, Public Procurement Act, Anti-money Laundering Act and Army Act. And we have the Office of the Auditor General, National Vigilance Centre, Office of the Attorney General, Judicial Court and Parliamentary committees to rein in fraudulent practices. But despite all these laws and constitutional bodies, if corruption continues to flourish, it can only mean that there is no political will to control it. To make any progress, a sweeping anti-corruption crusade against the lawmakers, the Office of the Prime Minister and the judiciary will be necessary.
Decide on modality
The government-funded Geta Medical College in Kailali is in the final stage of its construction and is ready to start MBBS classes any time soon. But the government has not made any legal preparations to run the undergraduate course. Once this college comes into full operation, the people of Sudurpaschim Province will get affordable health care services at their doorsteps.
A bill to this effect was drafted some three years ago by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
However, the federal parliament has yet to pass a bill to run the MBBS and other bachelor-level classes in this college. When the federal parliament will pass the bill related to running the classes is uncertain due to continued obstruction by the main opposition CPN-UML over the Speaker's role. The government has yet to decide under which modality the college will be run - a medical college under a university or as an institute of health sciences. The government should have already agreed on the modality before all the physical infrastructures were ready. It shows the unpreparedness on the part of the government regarding its operation. In this case, the government should not waste time in deciding the modality of its operation.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 27, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.