Recall/sack Kushwaha

Minister for Education Ram Chandra Kushwaha has been implicated in a serious corruption case involving recruitment of teachers under "relief quota". A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its interim report has pointed out gross misuse of office by Kushwaha. The sub-committee has gathered evidence of Kushwaha taking bribes, ranging from Rs 100,000-300,000, to recruit aspirant teachers. In some cases he has appointed teachers in the name of schools that do not even exist. Likewise, seven teachers are said to have been appointed for one vacancy at a school. This is perhaps the first time that any minister has been implicated in such gross misuse of power and naked corruption. Mr Kushwaha, you have disgraced the post of minister; shame on you!



The government today canceled all recruitment of teachers under "relief quota" by Minister Kushwaha and constituted an inquiry committee led by National Planning Commission (NPC) member Tirtha Raj Khaniya to investigate the alleged irregularities and corruption. This is not for the first time that Kushwaha has been implicated in a corruption case. The PAC had earlier implicated him in irregularities in the purchase of printing materials for the state-run Janak Shiksha Samagri Kendra, the sole authority for printing textbooks used in public schools. This time round the government took the initiative to revoke his appointments and investigate the case only because various bilateral and multilateral donors assisting Nepal´s education sector development threatened to suspend their current assistance and cancel future commitments. It´s so unfortunate that we need to come under tremendous pressure from donors before we take action against a corrupt politician. Shouldn´t tackling corruption be our own issue rather than a donors’ issue?



There are three institutions/organizations that should take responsibility for bringing Kushwaha to book. First is the Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) which Kushwaha represents. The party should immediately recall him from the cabinet and suspend him to facilitate investigations against him. In democracy, parties should lead reform and change and so long as they try to cover up misdeeds by their leaders things are not going to change in this country. Second, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, as the leader of the coalition, cannot shy away from his responsibility. He must either persuade TMDP to recall him or immediately sack him from the cabinet. Third, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the constitutional anti-graft body, should immediately take up the case and investigate it thoroughly. This is the first case of corruption involving such a high public figure since the restoration of multiparty democracy after the April movement of 2006 and it should be given all the seriousness it deserves.

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