The guilty persons should not be spared for at stake is the image of the nation, the future of the game, and in Thapa’s case, the image of the RPP-Nepal as well

At one time the Nepali national squad was considered to be a powerhouse in South Asia. But this is no longer the case now. Irregularities such as corruption in this game in the country have considerably affected the standard of the game here. After the news about some Nepali players playing for the country, including the skipper, being involved in match-fixing, the soccer fraternity here have been in a state of even greater shock with the FIFA ban on its president Ganesh Thapa for 10 years. He has been slapped with a fine of 20,000 Swiss francs (about 21 lakh Nepali rupees) as well. He has been found guilty of misconduct over several years by the FIFA, football’s world governing body. He has been found guilty under several articles of the Code of Ethics including those concerning the general rules of conduct, loyalty, duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting, conflicts of interest, offering and accepting gifts and other benefits and bribery and corruption.

Meanwhile, Thapa has said that he has received the news of the action with disbelief and thinks that justice has not been done to him. Thapa has been involved with football in Nepal for over 35 years and he has ruled ANFA, the supreme governing body for football in the country, for about 19 years. He was also the captain of the national side at one time. Indeed, he has the right to appeal to FIFA and if needed he can also go to the Court of Arbitration in an effort to prove that he not guilty of the charges. The match-fixing scandal followed soon afterward with action against the chief of the national football body on serious charges of corruption and misconduct goes only to show why there has not been any improvement on the overall standard of Nepali football over the years. Their performances of Nepali players have been well below expectations although it is clearly evident that their talents show that they could play a lot better. Another embarrassing incident for Nepal was when an over-aged player was found to be playing in the AFC U-16 Championship.

Thapa, who is also a member of Parliament from the Rastriya Prajantra Party – faces a serious moral dilemma and so is his party. The RPP-Nepal has said that it will study the FIFA decision before making any move against Thapa. The guilty persons should not be spared for at stake is the image of the nation, the future of the game concerned, and in Thapa’s case, the image of the RPP-Nepal as well. No wonder Nepal’s standing in international sports is among the lowest. Therefore, the need of the hour is take up sports seriously and punish all those who are at fault. It seems that these cases are mere tips of the iceberg and more investigations should be carried out. It would not be at all surprising if we find more sports officials and players involved in scams. Thapa faces allegations of irregularities on several other counts as well. He has been under the scanner of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee and the anti-graft agency, CIAA. However, the CIAA decided not to make further investigation into the accusations against him. It seems the case should be taken up now again.

Digital system

Acute shortage of fuels across the country has led to increased black marketing leading the transport entrepreneurs to hike fares in most parts of the country. A report from Bajura district states that the locals had to pay double the price of usual fares. Even the transport entrepreneurs said that they did not have any other option than to charge more than the fares fixed as they also have to purchase diesel or petrol in the black market coughing up more than the prices fixed by NOC.

Other reports from Tarai districts where some Mahdesi parties claim to have blocked the supplies from India reveal that petroleum products are smuggled in from the open borders at night and they are sold in Nepal at higher prices. In order to control the black marketing and smuggling of the petroleum products the NOC with support from the Home Ministry can introduce a digital system under which vehicle owners can get fuel within a certain period of time. A bar code can be put on the Blue Book giving information about when the vehicle owner had filled the fuel last time. This will end the hassle and the recipients can get fuel after some time from any petrol pumps.