At least if it can be ensured that all the political and non-political persons involved in the scandal of irregularities will be punished according to their share and benefits, the question raised by the employees will be realized. The result can be whatever the Prime Minister wants.
There is no good governance in the country, no prosperity, this is a common issue. Similarly, the tendency of political leadership to blame employees and employees to blame political leadership is also old. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli gathered more than 50 secretaries at the staff college in Jawalakhel on Friday evening and expressed his dissatisfaction saying that the daily performance of the staff is not satisfactory.
It is natural for the Prime Minister to say that he is ready to facilitate if there is a problem in the work, but he should not create obstacles in the work of good governance by showing legal obstacles. Uncompromising performance is also expected from employees, as legal accountability for decisions made or signatures made today is eternal.
However, for that, it is in everyone's interest that they should not be exempted from the responsibility for public service delivery. However, there is also a tendency to rush ahead with matters related to the political leadership and delay in their defined work. But if Prime Minister Oli seeks the answer to his question from both employees and political leadership, a positive conclusion can be reached.
Political leadership wants immediate results after coming to government. It has its own reasons, firstly, as soon as the people's representatives reach the government, the people will ask 'Khoi te?' Further, the countdown to exit from the government starts from the day of appointment as a minister. Even well-intentioned public representatives have very little time to set an example.
What will be the result of acting in such haste, but they appear in the psychology of having to begin. But whether the people's representative rushes or slows down, the work of the state should be done according to the law, the bureaucracy stands as a permanent power to ensure that. How confident the bureaucracy stands in its rights and responsibilities also determines the future of good governance.
The arguments of the secretaries are not baseless on the issues that Prime Minister Oli tried to raise. They are suspicious because of the past events in which a decision has to be made under political pressure, the detailed context of which is publicized as corruption, but only the employees are found guilty by the court. As a result, they have lost trust in the 'vision' and 'good intentions' of the political leadership.
The then Inspector General of Police Om Vikram Rana, Hem Bahadur Gurung, Rameshchand Thakuri and others were found guilty by the Supreme Court in the Sudan scam case. In the Lalita Niwas case, the then Secretary of Physical Planning Ministry, Deep Basnyat, and Secretary of Land Reforms Ministry, Chhabiraj Pant, were found guilty by a special court.
Sunil Paudel, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Center and Managing Director of Nepal Telecom, was found guilty in the National Payment Gateway scandal. The then Executive Director Vikal Paudel was found guilty in the Security Printing Press scandal.
The then secretaries President Shankarprasad Adhikari and Shishir Dhungana, the then general manager of the corporation Sugaratna Kansakar, joint secretary Budhisasagar Lamichhane were found guilty by the special court in the widebody scandal. There are many scandals from history, including these, in which only the employees are convicted and the political leadership that directs them is getting an opportunity to give a speech on good governance.
On the one hand, there is a lack of staff in various agencies of the state including the local level, on the other hand, the office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers is not unaware of the staff who spend their time wandering around Singha Darbar, relying on their attendance. After discussing with the secretaries, the Prime Minister asked for the help of the National Vigilance Center to monitor the Ministry of Home Affairs and Federal Affairs and General Administration saying that the government and service delivery of the state had been disrupted by making the employees unemployed.
The office has given written instructions on Sunday to adjust the management according to the number of employees and needs. The vigilance center has been asked to submit a report on the fourth day after monitoring whether the management has been arranged/not arranged within the stipulated time. This step has been taken because many employees in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Federal Affairs are not working and there are no employees in other agencies, which has affected service delivery. There are many problems in the
workforce, there is no disagreement. But they are afraid of the problems that will arise in the future when random decisions are made under the pressure of the political leadership. So they seem hesitant to make a decision and only aim to save their jobs. In such a situation, it is certain that the political leadership will not help as much as it wants.
It is not possible to believe that the non-political person who was found guilty by the court in many scandals of irregularity, that the related scandal was their creation alone. Political people are avoiding, employees are stumbling because of the psychology that only they will be trapped. In some cases, even if acquitted, the image of the concerned person in the society may be destroyed due to the accusations and arrests.
Prime Minister should also pay attention here. As long as the responsibility of the political person is not established in the decision, there will be no result as long as the system is carried only by the employees. At least if it can be ensured that all the political and non-political persons involved in the scandal of irregularities will be punished according to their share and benefits, the question raised by the employees will be realized. The result can be whatever the Prime Minister wants.
