Editorial

PM's Hackneyed Realisation

The law has become so cheap in present day Nepal that everybody - the common man, the not-so-common man, not-at-all-common man and everyone in between – thinks that they can afford to break it.

Last Thursday, our PhD Prime Minister was able to fork out some time from his busy schedule to express worries about the country's economy. At a programme organised at the Ministry of Finance (MoF), he listed a number of our economic woes: capital expenditure in the first four months of the current fiscal year is too low; the share market continues the downward spiral; revenue growth from surging imports is not good for the economy; the common man is hit hard by the rising prices of daily essentials; public enterprises have become milch cows for political parties, among others.

After the PM was done with listing the problems, he quickly issued a fresh set of directions to MoF, NRB and other officials. Control regular expenditure and increase capital expenditure in the next four months. Introduce programmes to encourage investment in the productive sector. Intervene in the market to control the rising prices of daily essentials. Don't seek the source of income from investors who want to invest in the stock market. Do this. Do that.

Once he had finished prescribing the remedies, he declared, "Nepal's peace process has now gained momentum and will soon conclude. The country's journey towards economic prosperity has formally begun now." When the PM was making this tall claim in Singha Durbar, workers affiliated to his party were closing down Club Himalaya, a deluxe resort in Nagarkot, leaving dozens of tourists high and dry. Though the workers at the resort resumed their duties the next day, the Club Himalaya incident has shown where a major problem of "New Nepal" lies.

More importantly, it has shown, once again, what it exactly is.

It is total disregard for the law, which sometimes also goes under such aliases as "rules", "regulations", "directives" and "codes of conducts". The law and all its aliases have become so cheap in present day Nepal that everybody - the common man, the not-so-common man, not-at-all-common man and everyone in between – thinks that they can afford to break them. The government has already declared hotels as an essential sector where all kinds of strikes are banned. But the workers at not only the hotels but also all other essential sectors do not fear this government rule or directive at all. Big businessmen know that producing fake VAT receipts is a crime. But they do not hesitate to rob the state coffers by doing so because they do not fear the law. Examples are aplenty to prove that "the long arm of the law" is nothing more than a myth in New Nepal.

True leaders live by examples. But the Nepali leaders live by preaching. Take the example of the PM himself. He always preaches the rule of law but inducts people accused of murders in his cabinet and does everything he can to prevent any investigation against them. He thinks there is nothing wrong in seeking clemency for a lawmaker who has been convicted of a cold-blooded murder by the Supreme Court. He preaches austerity and rides a Mustang but spends Rs 2.7 million in tea receptions and appoints a 49-memebr jumbo cabinet which costs the country Rs 10 million a month, legally.

Most of our present problems - economic or otherwise – would be resolved only if the government could uphold the "rule" of law and all its aliases in all sectors. Investment climate would automatically improve then, encouraging more investment in the productive sector. Public enterprises would no more be milch cows for politicians and white elephants for the state. Our exports would not be so low and imports so high. The stock market, too, would sort itself out. Artificial price hike, black marketing etc would vanish from the scene just like that. All this would happen only if nobody could break the law so blissfully!