Hoping for improvement

The Himalayan Times

25 May 2017

Hoping for improvement

After former CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki was unseated by the Supreme Court verdict declaring him unfit for the post, the corruption watchdog commission was running without chief. Likewise, the Office of the Auditor General was also looking forward to a new AG after the former AG Bhanu Acharya resigned from his post a few months ago. The government has finally filled these two constitutional positions; Deep Basnyat as the CIAA chief and Tanka M. Sharma as the new AG “New CIAA chief, AG sworn in” (THT, May 23, Page 3).

The role of CIAA chief in our country seems to be crucial and challenging. However, the political interference and threats continue to make the chief unable to fully exercise his authority letting big fishes swim around freely. There were some cases of political leaders in the past spending time behind the bars charged with corruption. However, we have not heard in recent years that CIAA putting any corrupt people behind the bars. There is rampant institutionalized corruption in the country. Common people have to pay even for seeking government services.

Likewise, the role of AG is vital and crucial in terms of making the government and its ministries, departments and their local level organizations aware of budget spending irregularities by carrying out periodic internal audit. Billions of rupees have been misappropriated by the government organizations in the last several years as cited in the AG’s annual audit report recently submitted to the President. There is no proper follow up and controlling mechanism from the concerned officials and organizations to recover dues from the concerned officials and organizations; as a result, the volume of accumulated amount continue to swell up every year.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj, Kathmandu