Two vacation-bound non-resident Nepali families land at the airport; one is escorted throughout the airport and then in a government vehicle all the way home while the other goes through the normal hassle of custom and immigration and negotiates with a taxi driver at the parking lot.
The family going through the maze of transportation and booking arrangements gets to a popular vacation destination hundreds of kilometers away and finds the other family making their time more fun and relaxing through the exclusive use of a government vehicle and access to a special pass.
In a context where the king and royalty have long gone, explaining how things work in the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal to kids growing up and getting educated in the west requires a lesson on the Nepali history and culture of corruption.
Practiced for a long, this form of nepotism, favoritism, self-aggrandizement and outright abuse of power has corrupted the idea of public service in Nepal.
What is so special here is not that the otherwise comparable family abroad can vacation in Nepal at the expense of taxpayer money.
With most charges dropped during the investigative, prosecutorial, or judicial processes, later on, the deep culture of impunity continues especially at the behest of actors occupying the positions to appoint and oversee the tenure of those leading the anti-corruption body.
It is, more importantly, the distinct pride and prestige that both grantor and grantee of this and myriad other favors feel about their corrupt behavior, with onlookers glorifying the special access and dreaming that they too had such a newfound power.
Having grown up with this culture of corruption, no one seems to be even asking whose money is being misused and what special power and privilege is being abused to subsidize the vacation of a nonresident family for seamless comfort.
In the renewed context of Nepal as a republic, power does not just rest with those at the center like ministries, police, and the army; it is vastly fragmented, empowering both elected and appointed leaders from the seven provinces and hundreds of local governments.
This fragmentation of power in the republican setup can bring decisions closer to the public and make them more efficient.
Had the elected public leaders and career public servants taken the very idea of public service in heart, they would be devoting their life and career to the common good, democratic governance, integrity, humility, and improving things every day.
What they continue to have, however, is the idea that public service is free for all and anyone in a position of power has landed a lifetime opportunity to enrich themselves and their cronies.
Only by amassing wealth for themselves and their relatives and enablers that they feel their hard work has paid off.
Since corrupt intentions can spill to the public through someone from the inner circle, there is no end to the all-too-common practice of appointing trusted relatives as personal aids or advisors and employing those on the government payroll as domestic helpers, with a blatant disregard for the very idea of public service and professional ethics.
You have to work hard to find a few exceptions of self-sacrifice, where public officials not just practice utmost professional integrity but also demonstrate humble demeanor and in-extravagant lifestyles.
During this active election cycle, one just wishes if there were leaders dedicated to improving public service for all Nepalis and those who care about their future legacy, rather than maximizing private gain at public cost.
Who cares about these petty abuses of power and misuse of the public purse?
The constitutional body charged with detecting and prosecuting cases of corruption is too busy with a few high-profile cases coming into the limelight where a career bureaucrat or an elected official is shown to accept bribes from the public, contractors, businesses, and others seeking favor.
With most charges dropped during the investigative, prosecutorial, or judicial processes, later on, the deep culture of impunity continues especially at the behest of actors occupying the positions to appoint and oversee the tenure of those leading the anti-corruption body.
It is not an exaggeration that this culture of corruption has taken the place of the idea of public service entirely.
The ranked public officials in charge of large public service portfolios, for example, are accustomed to allocating pork-barrel funds and making decisions to maximize their own kickbacks.
Public engineers designing, overseeing, and certifying construction projects see an obligation to maximize the percentage allocated for government officials and peddling the proceeds up.
Tax collectors enrich themselves and their supervisors by lowering the government tax revenue in favor of corrupt businesses.
Land revenue officials cut special deals with land developers and investors, at the expense of government revenue.
Customs and border security officers nag petty violators while granting a free pass to illegal importers and smugglers.
This culture of corruption is so deep and pervasive that members of now ubiquitous local consumer committees view their volunteer community service as a gateway to enriching themselves.
At a time when most leaders have their families abroad, hopes are thinning that this never-ending cycle of corruption will be controlled by leaders born with a vision and motivation to serve in the interest of those who remain.
It is understandable that a proportional electoral system, where coalition governments become the norm, requires constant negotiations and power sharing.
What is not understandable is why such power-sharing yields one absolute control of the assigned portfolios including for the purposes of self-enrichment.
During this active election cycle, one just wishes if there were leaders dedicated to improving public service for all Nepalis and those who care about their future legacy, rather than maximizing private gain at public cost.
One observes that the missed opportunities of the early 1990s for corruption reform are being replayed all over again during the consolidation phase of this fledgling republic.
At a time when most leaders have their families abroad, hopes are thinning that this never-ending cycle of corruption will be controlled by leaders born with a vision and motivation to serve in the interest of those who remain.
What is clear is that the current revolving door politics giving recurring passes to those too comfortable to abuse and misuse is unlikely to serve Nepal.
(Udaya Wagle is Professor and Director of the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Western Michigan University, USA)
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