Education Minister Ram Chandra Kuswaha, who is being investigated by the Public Account Committee for corruption, is about to lose his job after international donors threatened to scrap aid if appropriate action was not taken against the minister. Republica writes:
International donors have demanded action against Kuswaha as a condition for continuation of funding of billions of rupees for education programs in Nepal. In a meeting with the Finance Ministry on Monday, they formally said they would stop disbursement of the committed amount and not sign further agreements if convincing steps were not taken to address the rampant corruption in the Education Ministry, according to a Finance Ministry source.
The move followed reports that Kuswaha is being investigated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over financial irregularities related to relief quota teachers. The source said the donors claimed they themselves have found that Kuswaha has sold relief quotas across the country charging anything from Rs 100,000 to Rs 300,000 for each quota teacher.
Yes, he was making teachers pay up to Rs 3000,000 for jobs.
Top-tier politicians, including President Ram Baran Yadav and Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Koirala, were forced to rescind an invitation to a Tibetan program in Kathmandu after China’s strong objection to what it said was a violation of Nepal’s commitment to ‘One-China Policy’. The Kathmandu Post writes:
The latest setback to the government came on Sunday after President Yadav, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala and Minister for Culture Minendra Rijal were invited to a little known pro-Tibetan organisation Sechen Maha Bouddha Bihar to mark the 100th anniversary of Dilgo Khenche Rimpochee.
Chinese Military Attaché Col. Cheng Xizhong met Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai on Sunday morning to express his government’s displeasure about a scheduled visit to the Tibetan organisation by the president, foreign minister, a number of other ministers, CA members and senior government officials. The visits were cancelled at the eleventh hour after the Chinese protest.
Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guhong called on Foreign Secretary Bhattarai on Monday and asked him to adhere to Nepal’s commitment to one-China policy. Following the Chinese protest early Sunday, the Foreign Ministry got into a quick damage control mode, communicating the message to the PMO.
In Rupandehi, a man has confessed that he ‘sacrificed’ an eight-year-old girl at a brick kiln in order to curry favor with the almighty. Nagarik reports:
The accused, Newash Pal, has confirmed that he sacrificed eight-year-old Manish Harijan at brick kiln. The girl, who belonged to a Dalit family, was found dead with slit throat.
Pal, who works as a jhakri, told the police that he ‘sacrificed’ the girl according to instructions from the brick kiln owner Birendra Jaiswal.
Finally a public notice from Kantipur: If you are thinking of travelling abroad or if your passport is about to expire, you should apply for a passport before 31 March. International Civil Aviation Authority has made it mandatory for all countries to issues machine readable passports from 1 April, but Nepal is not yet ready to do so. That means Nepal cannot issue any passports after 31 March.
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It is nothing else I feel, but utmost shame when I read news like these, and yet I know this is just the tip of the iceberg of how corrupt our entire system is. There are a lot of INGOs who want to either collaborate with Nepalese government or donate funds for developmental activities in Nepal, but are set back by the strings like corruption that seem to overplay our system and decide against it.
Incidents like these, are what have been causing a massive brain drain in our country. When people at such a revered post such as the education minister thinks about nothing else but filling his own pockets, how can the country progress? What hope can ordinary citizens carry?Are these politicians/ministers not answerable to their own conscience or did they kill their conscience when they joined politics? I often wonder.
This might not sound too intellectual, but did anyone notice the education minster Ram Chandra Kuswaha is so ugly and hideous looking that he comes across as a natural ghusyaha…?
We have people like him leading the education minstry. Thukka, Ke farkinu Nepal?
He must have been thinking that ‘this is like stealing candy from children. Only in this case he was stealing money that belonged to our children – our future generation. So sad.