A retired senior manager at one of the famous chow-chow brands in Nepal was recently heard complaining about how it is nearly impossible to get anything done without bribing government officials. Apparently, his company had successfully bribed a then-government minister from Nepali Congress to mobilize the police to open the factory which had been shut down by labor unions demanding better working conditions. [break]
Asked whether the company maintained proper hygiene standards, he recalled a few measures that were adopted. One thing it did not do is periodically test the quality of its food products. But didn’t government food officials make periodic checks? He chuckled, and then proceeded to recount how the company’s painstakingly prepared application for ‘quality product’ certificate had been binned by government officials without even a cursory glance. Why bother, the company representatives were apparently told, when for a small fee the certificate would be delivered to their doorsteps! The chow-chow manufacturer complied.
This tale illustrates the enormous challenges of ensuring quality in food products produced in Nepal. With the bureaucracy corrupt from the top to bottom and businesses willing to cater to their greed, the much-hyped ‘consumer rights’ are nearly non-existent. Whenever there is news of food adulteration or tainted food products found in the market—most recently the one on dangerous levels of coliform bacteria in packaged milk—the public outcry for decisive action forces the government to announce a slew of new measures, everything from appointment of new food inspectors to more rigorous food monitoring. But evidence suggests that most of these interventions are only cosmetic, announced (but seldom implemented) to placate the angry public. On the ground, nothing changes. The new inspectors will be bribed into silence. There will be reports of rigorous inspection of factory floors, without any inspector visiting them. The logic is simple: So long as the money talks, the food inspectors and their masters higher up the food bureaucracy stay silent.
Things are unlikely to change unless those in the food and health bureaucracies are shown, in no uncertain terms, that there will be grave consequences for any lapse in duty. But this will not happen unless there is political will to take on corruption head on. The signs so far are not encouraging. The country’s chief anti-graft body, after remaining without office bearers for six long years, is now headed by someone suspected of misusing state resources by the same body that he now heads! Virtually all top political leaders are embroiled in one or the other corruption case. If strong anti-corruption measures are enacted, they know very well that the axe could first fall on them. Yes, there have to be other measures to ensure food safety: Greater public awareness, more food inspectors on the ground, provision of harsher punishment for the culprits, both in and outside the government. But none is likely to yield the desired result in the absence of strong political will to clean up governance and to be more accountable to the public. The little hope for the beleaguered consumers is that if there is an election on November 19, the new people’s representatives would be a little more concerned about the health of those who elected them to office.
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