Combat Corruption

Corruption is a big concern in Nepal. Despite attempts by the nation's anti-corruption body and numerous government agencies to control it, efforts to eliminate corruption have not yet yielded the intended outcome. The worldwide corruption watchdog, Transparency International, has, in its 2021 report, ranked Nepal at 117th position out of 180 countries where it has tracked corruption indices. The TI report reveals that corruption has become a big problem that demands addressing sooner rather than later. If we carefully examine into the corruption index, we will discover that practically all sorts of corruption are pervasive in this impoverished country. 

Our nation has suffered from numerous sorts of corruption recently. Bribery, embezzlement, financial frauds, graft, commission-taking, extortion, favouritism, and nepotism are some of the kinds of corruption that have hit our nation’s governmental and commercial organisations. Abuse of discretion and one’s power to earn wealth or favours is another sort of corruption that is common in the nation. Politicians and top-level bureaucrats are also said to be engaged in policy-level corruption, in which laws and norms are established in such a manner that favour those who enact them or their near and dear ones. Corruption in any society is a criminal behaviour and an act of dishonesty. It threatens to undermine a country’s growth while hampering a country’s development ambitions. When corruption becomes all pervasive then, there will be a serious lack of transparency and responsibility to the state and its population.

A government in a democracy cannot remain a quiet spectator while the population suffers due to widespread corruption. This might be what motivated Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to call on everyone to help combat corruption. The anti-corruption fight demands pledges and activity from all governmental organs, the judiciary, civil society, and the media. Speaking at a gathering held to honour International Anti-Corruption Day, PM Deuba recognised that corruption has taken on multi-faceted forms and that managing it had become a problem. He asked all to guarantee successful service delivery by preserving good governance that includes all the components of openness and accountability. Most significantly, the chief of the government called on people to exercise zero-tolerance against corruption in all levels of the government. He advocated establishing excellent practises centred on the concepts of strong moral standards to combat corruption.

There are various effective techniques with which the government may fight corruption at all levels of government. Enacting and executing regulations and guidelines that operate as deterrents is greatly essential at today. The present rules are not adequate to address the difficulties of different sorts of corruption. Meanwhile, the government should be more open when dealing with public cash. The government must empower the anti-corruption authority, such as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), to efficiently investigate allegations of corruption among all public officials and hold them responsible for their misuse of power. As our nation suffers grimly owing to the prevalence of corruption, we are in urgent need of a law that puts high emphasis on zero-tolerance for corruption and that has the power to hold any of our politicians, bureaucrats, and policymakers accountable for failing to observe this law in letter and spirit. In the absence of such legislation, combating corruption at all levels of public and private entities remains a pipe dream.