MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 | 02
NATIONAL
Farmers are seen walking to their fields at Shera Phant in Bungamati, Lalitpur, on Sunday. The Kathmandu-Nijgadh expressway, which is being built by the Nepal Army, is set
to pass through the area.
Thirty months of poor governance and a weak ...
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All the while, Oli’s ruling party was embroiled
in internal conflict, which too hamstrung gov-
ernance.
The main opposition, which was still licking
its wounds and was struggling to get back on its
feet, barely held the government accountable—
neither from Parliament nor the streets.
Analysts say the way the ruling party is func-
tioning and the opposition is responding could
jeopardise the hard-earned system.
According to Maharjan, the ruling party
seems to be promoting middlemen and the oppo-
sition is failing to question this, which could
have a dangerous outcome.
“Even when the ruling party is trampling
upon the constitution, the opposition seems to
be silent,” said Maharjan. “All these go against
democratic principles.”
It’s an irony that what Oli said once about
people’s need to wear masks has come back to
hound him today: amid the Covid-19 pandemic,
masks, which people used to wear to protect
themselves from dust, have become a must.
But the Oli administration’s response to the
Covid-19 pandemic has been lacklustre.
Even his ministers have been dragged into
corruption controversy. While Oli has failed to
initiate action, the opposition Congress has
failed to question.
Some youth leaders including Gagan Thapa
and Bishwo Prakash Sharma of the Nepali
Congress have tried to raise their voice against
the government response to the pandemic. But
their calls have been lost in the din of Oli’s fan-
faronade which is often followed by a thunder of
ruling party leaders’ claps.
Opposition leaders also admit that they have
not been able to put a check on the government
as much as they could have because of a lack of
support from the top leadership.
Ram Chandra Poudel, a senior Nepali
Congress leader, said party President Sher
Bahadur Deuba has not taken a strong stand
against the government—neither in Parliament
nor from other platforms.
“We are also seeking answers [from the party
president] why we as the opposition have failed
to hold the government to account,” Poudel told
the Post. “We are yet to figure out if our party
president has any weaknesses that have forced
him to keep quiet despite the Oli government
making so many mistakes.”
Many say Deuba, despite being the leader of
the opposition, has emerged as Oli’s biggest ally.
According to insiders in both the ruling and
opposition parties, Deuba has been in constant
negotiations with Oli as well as Pushpa Kamal
Dahal, the other chair of the ruling communist
party, to win some posts and positions for “his
men”.
“That makes him weak when it comes to
opposing the Oli government’s actions,” said a
Congress leader. “Once in a while he comments
on the government’s functioning, but these are
just cosmetic statements which are made for
public consumption.”
Amid the pandemic, the Congress is now
POST PHOTO: KESHAV THAPA
mired in its own internal conflict as the party
heads for its general convention scheduled for
February 19-22 next year.
“I wonder if the Nepali Congress has any
character to prove it is the main opposition. The
party has lost its way,” said Maharjan, the polit-
ical commentator. “To play the role of opposi-
tion, its leaders cannot have any deal with the
ruling party and its leaders.”
Wagle, the analyst, said that in the govern-
ment’s failure, Oli is to blame but the leader of
the opposition needs to take the equal blame.
“The main opposition may have fewer seats in
Parliament but that’s not the only reason,”
Wagle told the Post. “The main reason why the
opposition has failed to play a critical and con-
structive role is Congress President Deuba’s
dealings with the ruling party on constitutional
positions.”
According to Wagle, the Oli government’s
failure to perform may be an immediate con-
cern but the more concerning issue is that the
ruling and opposition parties are working hand
in glove, depriving people of good governance,
justice and service delivery.
“With the government failing to deliver
and ensure good governance and the main
opposition failing to play the role of the
watchdog, the democratic system is now
at stake,” said Wagle.
“This will ultimately erode people’s trust in
political parties and the government. That will
be even more dangerous. It looks like the coun-
try is on a slippery slope.”
Massive landslide in
Sindhupalchok kills
at least 11 people
Twenty villagers have gone missing in Sunday morning’s disaster
that injured six people and displaced around 58 families, police say.
ANISH TIWARI
SINDHUPALCHOK, SEPT 13
At least 11 people died and 20 others have
gone missing when a landslide caused by
heavy rainfall struck Ghumthang in
Bahrabise Municipality Ward No 7,
Sindhupalchok, on Sunday.
The massive landslide erupted from a frag-
ile landmass—weakened by the 2015 earth-
quake and its powerful aftershocks—above
Ghumthang village and swept away
Bhirkharka, Nagpuje and Dandagaun settle-
ments at around 3:30 am. The landslide swept
away 22 houses and emptied in the Bhotekoshi
river some three kilometres below. The area
had been witnessing incessant rainfall since
Saturday evening.
“We never thought such a massive land-
slide would occur,” said Surya Bahadur
Khadka, 70, of Ghumthang. “We knew the
landmass had weakened after the
earthquakes in 2015 but neither the local gov-
ernment nor the villagers took the threat
seriously.”
Security personnel from the Area Police
Office in Bahrabise, with the help of locals,
rescued the victims who were trapped in the
landslide debris.
According to Deputy Superintendent of
Police Prakash Sapkota, security personnel
have recovered 11 bodies so far while the
search for the missing victims is underway.
He said nine bodies were recovered from the
incident site while one each was found in the
Sunkoshi and Bhotekoshi rivers.
Six villagers were injured in the landslide.
They were taken to Sindhu Sadabahar
Hospital in Khandichaur. One of the injured
villagers who was in a critical condition has
been referred to Kathmandu for treatment,
said police.
According to locals, there is a rivulet near
the settlements named Taksare khola, which
The landslide swept away 22 houses in Bhirkharka, Nagpuje and Dandagaun settlements of Ghumthang
village at around 3:30 am.
Anti-graft body had relied ...
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This principle states, “There must be
direct, result-oriented and reliable evidence
that proves that the defendant has benefited
oneself or any other person illegally, in a
manner beyond doubt.”
In its charge-sheet, the commission had
claimed that Ghimire had stated during the
commission’s inquiry that he had bribed
Subedi so that he would look at the
related documents regarding his property at
the earliest.
The court verdict, however, says that the
anti-graft body failed to produce any evi-
dence from the Land Revenue Office that
there had been any sale or purchase of land
that involved Ghimire, as claimed by the
commission.
“Therefore there is no situation where
Ghimire was required to pay a bribe to
Subedi,” the verdict says.
As per Section 3 (3) of the Corruption
Prevention Act-2002, there should be evi-
dence that Subedi had taken money from
Ghimire for performing some work designed
to favour Ghimire, which according to the
court verdict, has not been proved.
Citing these factors, the court acquitted
both Ghimire and Subedi.
In the case of Subedi, the court
also scrapped the case against him after
Subedi’s wife provided evidence that he had
already died.
As per 133 (1) of the Criminal Procedure
(Code) Act-2017, any case against a defendant
who dies before the court verdict, must be
scrapped.
“This case shows that the commission has
misused its power disproportionately against
Subedi by taking him in custody for so many
days and eventually filing the corruption
case which led to his suicide,” said Om
Prakash Aryal, an advocate who played a
crucial role in bringing down the reign of
Lok Man Singh Karki in the anti-graft body.
Lok Man Singh Karki was appointed chief
commissioner of the Commission for
Investigation of Abuse of Authority in 2013
despite protests, with the support of all polit-
ical parties even as he lacked the qualifica-
tions required to head the constitutional
body. The Supreme Court eventually disqual-
ified Karki as the anti-graft agency chief
after Aryal petitioned the court.
is often flooded during the rainy season and
is prone to dry landslides during winter.
“The debris from a dry landslide last year
had accumulated in the rivulet which was
swept into the settlements by the heavy rain-
fall last night,” said Khadka of Ghumthang.
There are around 200 houses at Bhirkharka,
Nagpure and Newar Tol settlements in
Ghumthang village. The locals had sensed
the risk of landslide at Nagpuje settlement
and had informed the people’s representa-
tives about it.
“The villagers had informed the people’s
representatives but they didn’t do anything
about it. The tragedy could have been avert-
ed if they had paid attention to the locals,”
said Sun Kumari Tamang, who was prepar-
ing to shift to a safe location after she lost her
house to the landslide on Sunday.
According to Min Bahadur Shrestha, the
chairman of Ward No. 7 of the local unit, the
people’s representatives had held a discus-
sion a week ago about a possible landslide
threat in the Nagpuje area and had informed
the district administration office and the
district office of National Reconstruction
Authority.
“We urged the authorities repeatedly to
address the issue but the National
Reconstruction Authority did not listen to us.
We were tired of requesting them,” said
Shrestha.
According to him, as many as 58 families
have shifted to the lower region of the settle-
ment where the threat of landslides is mini-
mal. “The displaced families are living in
tents right now. Some of them are taking
shelter in their relatives’ houses.”
Sindhupalchok continues to get battered
by natural disasters this year. In August, a
massive landslide had struck Lidi village,
destroying 17 houses and damaging 37 others.
As many as 39 villagers perished and 135
families were displaced in the disaster.
POST PHOTO: ANISH TIWARI
“In many large-scale corruption cases, the
commission has either not taken the accused
into custody or taken them in custody for
only a short period of time and this is evi-
dence that its misguided focus is to threaten
lower level government staff,” said Aryal.
The suicide of a civil servant charged with
taking a bribe of Rs1,000 and subsequent
acquittal by the court comes at a time when
voices are being raised that the anti-corrup-
tion commission has been lenient on cases
involving politicians while its spends its time
and energy on petty cases involving small
amounts.
“The commission cannot prove its signifi-
cance by only increasing the number of cases
every year while just focusing on small ones,”
said Srihari Aryal, a senior advocate and
former chairperson of the Nepal chapter of
Transparency International, an anti-corrup-
tion advocacy group headquartered in Berlin.
“It will be judged based on whether it takes
any action on big cases that are politically
connected.”
The commission has been criticised for
recently ignoring scandals involving Gokul
Baskota, former minister for communica-
tions and information technology, and land
purchase deals by the Nepal Oil Corporation.
Baskota was caught on tape negotiating
Rs700 million bribe with a local agent of an
international firm attempting to set up a
security printing press in Nepal while he was
a minister. Baskota resigned after the tape
was leaked.
According to a report by Kantipur, the
Post’s sister paper, the commission is prepar-
ing to exonerate Baskota, a close confidante
of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
There have also been reports of the com-
mission suspending its investigation on a
multi-million rupee land purchase
deal, where officials were accused of
purchasing land at highly inflated prices in
different parts of the country to build oil
storage facilities.
“Due to the commission’s disproportionate
action against lower level government
employees and lenient attitude towards large-
scale corruption scandals involving political
leaders, questions of legitimacy of the com-
mission have arisen,” said Aryal. “This may
lead to civil disobedience in the future
against the commission.”
C M Y K