By Deepak Joshi Pokhrel The newly formed five-party ruling alliance unveiled its Minimum Policy Priorities and Common Commitment just recently. It acknowledges the pervasive public perception that everyone in public office is corrupt and useless. It also vows to improve governance, setting an example that wrongdoers are legally punished. No doubt, this is a praiseworthy move of the ruling government. However, this is a tall task as entrenched corruption has hijacked the state system. Ever since we restored democracy, corruption has become an accepted phenomenon in the country. This is not to say that there was no corruption in the country under the direct rule of the monarch. There was. However, corruption has increased multifold and the wrongdoers, mainly the public office bearers and politicians, get away with the corruption, while normal guys go the jail for the same thing. Misuse of the country’s highest public office by office-bearers, their relatives, and henchmen is nothing unusual in this country. A few days ago, the police arrested former speaker of the House of Representatives, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, in connection with 9 KGs of gold smuggling-related case. It is reported that his son and staff used the high office of the country’s former speaker of the House of Representatives to run a cross-country gold smuggling racket. Even worse, according to our media reports, our former home minister, Bal Krishna Khand, seemed to have mobilized his entire core team to develop fake Bhutanese refugees to facilitate the third-country settlement and earn quick and illegal money. The incumbent home minister, Rabi Lamichhane, who rose to prominence riding on the plank to fight against malpractices, has been allegedly involved in illegally siphoning away the funds from cooperatives. These are just representatives of such unfolding scams involving politicians. There are several others. It is anybody’s guess how these politicians can realize their sinister agenda. They do not work in isolation. Rather, they work with a strong network of bureaucrats, security officials and political patrons who are later given a strong pie for their support exacerbating political criminalization. The situation in public institutions and municipalities, both rural and urban, across the country is no less either. They are equally corrupt. The service seekers cannot imagine their work being done without greasing the palms of the frontline officer bearers. Last year, The Commission for Investigation on Abuse of Authority on Sunday filed a corruption case at the Special Court against seven people including the then minister for economic affairs of Madhesh Province on the charge of misappropriating the funds of Jhala Nath Khanal Academy of Health Sciences. The anti-graft body registered a Rs 170.9 million corruption case against former minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, economic affairs secretary Prem Kumar Shrestha, the then mayor of Lalbandi Municipality Man Bahadur Khadka and chairman, general secretary, treasurer and member of the academy. They have been accused of embezzling the funds received from the government by diverting the money from the original purpose it was meant for. The unending cases of such abuse of authority have only hindered the economic and socio-cultural prosperity of the country. Corruption is deeply entrenched in our social fabric. It has been taking a huge toll on our social and political aspects hindering much-needed economic development. However, it is surprising that corruption-related domestic data and scores are not available domestically. The lavish lifestyle of our politicians, bureaucrats and public office bearers with moderate stature is disproportionate to their legal source of income. In a democracy, the periodic election plays a vibrant role. It gives fresh oxygen to democracy enabling people to unseat the ones they dislike and retain what they like. But even the election has become a corrupt ritual. During the election, the voters are being bought and sold right in front of the polling stations. They are offered gift hampers and cash vouchers changing their perception and action. This is the reason why we tend to elect a person with no personal background, academic qualification and integrity. The result is that it lays the foundation to institutionalize corruption. When we talk about corruption, we cannot afford to skip our parliament. We bid adieu to century-old monarchy thinking we will be able to elect the parliamentarians who will script our better future. Here lies the biggest irony. The parliament is endowed with corrupt and murder-convict parliamentarians. In plain words, our parliamentarians are more corrupt than all the previous regimes combined. Similarly, the police, NGOs and private houses are equally corrupt. Take the example of Telia Sonera, the primary investor in Ncell. It reported that Ncell itself was embroiled in a contentious dispute over the non-payment of capital gains tax during the sale of shares to Axiata. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was in office in 2073 BS when the issue escalated from the streets to the Parliament. A cursory look at the anti-corruption watch dogs -- Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority and National Vigilance Centre etc--clearly indicates that they have become a body without any essence. Both were instituted with an overarching objective to curb corruption and make society corruption-free. Exception apart, they have not been able to live up to the people’s expectations. I leave it to the expert par excellence to explain why they have not been able to deliver their mandate. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2023, an annual flagship publication of Transparency International, a global anti-corruption group based in Berlin, Nepal was ranked 110th position in 2022 and 117th in 2021. Transparency International uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is the most corrupt and 100 is the least corrupt. A score below 50 is considered to have a relatively higher level of corruption in a country, according to the anti-corruption advocacy body. Our position will not improve unless we come up with stringent punishments against those who breach the laws for their personal benefit. We have talked a lot about corruption. Now it is time to act. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.