COMMENTARY: "Catching big fish" in Nepal - recent high-profile corruption cases run the risk of being lost in a jurisdiction jumble
[Facilitator's note: Thank you to to Narayan Manandhar, a freelance consultant with an interest in corruption and governance issues, for giving us permission to share his op-ed.]
"The operation of multiple anti-corruption agencies in Nepal has brought us to a situation where we now have problems of not just interagency coordination and work duplication but also the issue of protecting jurisdictional boundaries and avoiding encroachment. A constitutional body like the [Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority] may feel humiliated to be working at the same level as the [Department of Money Laundering Investigation], which is simply headed by a joint secretary within the Ministry of Finance. Nepali bureaucrats are very sensitive to their status, privileges, and boundary encroachments. Just look at the grumbling of staff at the National Vigilance Centre because they were not placed directly and physically under the office of the prime minister."
Read Narayan Manandhar's full commentary in The Kathmandu Post.
"The operation of multiple anti-corruption agencies in Nepal has brought us to a situation where we now have problems of not just interagency coordination and work duplication but also the issue of protecting jurisdictional boundaries and avoiding encroachment. A constitutional body like the [Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority] may feel humiliated to be working at the same level as the [Department of Money Laundering Investigation], which is simply headed by a joint secretary within the Ministry of Finance. Nepali bureaucrats are very sensitive to their status, privileges, and boundary encroachments. Just look at the grumbling of staff at the National Vigilance Centre because they were not placed directly and physically under the office of the prime minister."
Read Narayan Manandhar's full commentary in The Kathmandu Post.