Rs Three billion is the amount misappropriated in Nepali Army. And Generals still claim this is a professional organization and boys still feel they are being cheated.
It was good to see Nepali Army holding a press conference to clarify some of the “misconceptions” regarding Army Welfare Fund but we could see generals lying at some points. First, contrary to their claims, the Fund is NOT transparent. The army has said that it will furnish all the details about the fund as demanded by a recent Supreme Court order. Good. After so many (13 to be specific) refusals to act on the SC orders, the army has finally decided to play by the rules. A welcome move but just saying it is transparent in front of reporters never makes Nepali public to believe them without any doubt. What we have been hearing is crystal clear: the soldiers in UN missions abroad are not getting the salary as per the agreement between the world body and the Nepali Army. That’s the main point. Solders are not happy, that’s the most important point. “Although the fund was supposed to have regular audits of its transactions, this has never happened ever since the fund was set up 30 years ago,” the Supreme Court order said, adding, “The fund has been run in a non-transparent way.” Rs 3 billion, the generals have accepted, is the total misappropriated fund! To make soldiers feel that they are not being cheated by their organization is the major challenge for the Nepali Army leadership. Boys feel they are being exploited for no good reason. That feeling must be removed once and for all as we are heading for the democratization of the national army. Boys must feel they are part of the organization.
Nepali Army leadership must keep this in mind: the organization needs an overhaul in the way it has been operating itself. It’s no more loyal ONLY to one person in town. As it was said in the press conference, Prime Minister is the supreme commander of the Army and prime ministers in this country are democratically elected. The current one has the peoples’ mandate that is no less authoritative than the election itself. Yes we, the civilians as they call us, perfectly understand that there are certain rules in militaries everywhere in the world. Militaries by nature are undemocratic when it comes to the chain of command etc but that doesn’t mean people can’t question the way THEIR institution is being run. Money is the key everywhere and funds must be transparent. They can’t just say oh this is the mater of national security or such kind of reasons. That’s what they have been doing in the past when the SC ordered for 13 times. With this planned response to the court, the army must start making its financial transactions and activities transparent. Transparent, by the way, in a real sense.
From today’s press meet:
Director of Army Welfare Fund Kumar KC claimed that the fund was completely transparent in all its dealings and that all funds had been audited. During today’s press meet, an hour-long video footage depicting activities of the fund, including details of the income and expenditure was also shown. KC said that the fund, established in 1975,had accrued a total of Rs 10.06 billion of which there had been misappropriations amounting to Rs 3 billion. According to KC, out of a total of Rs 7 billion on misappropriations, details of 3 billion had been clarified and that of 1 billion about to be clarified, leaving 3 billion as the total misappropriated fund. A majority of the misappropriated amount falls under salaries taken in advance.
Clarifying that no part of the funds has been deposited in foreign banks, the NA during the meet stated that all funds were deposited in the various commercial and cooperative banks in Nepal that yield an annual interest of Rs 400 million. Likewise, the funds invested in various schools, universities and hospitals yield Rs 20 million annually. According to the NA, a sum of Rs 320 million is deposited annually into the fund at the rate of 12 percent out of the total payment of services.
A joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Min Bahadur Rayamajhi and Damodar Sharma last week had issued the order against a writ petition filed by former army personnel some five years ago.
The welfare fund is created from partial deduction of the perks and benefits received by NA personnel during their service under the UN Peace Keeping Force. The court also concluded that the operation of the fund was non-transparent. Following the court order, the NA has to make public the money collected ever since the fund was set up. The government has been sending NA personnel on UN Peace Keeping Operations since 1972. The writ petitioners had claimed that NA senior officials misappropriated from the fund, which, they claimed was collected by deducting more than half the regular payments received during their service abroad.Although the petitioners had demanded that the money, deducted from their payments, should be returned to the army personnel concerned, the court order hasn’t mentioned anything in this regard. The petitioners had also urged the court to study the NA welfare fund statute and the agreement signed by the Nepal government with the UN regarding Peace Keeping Operations, including the forms filled out by army personnel while being sent on UN missions. According to the recently amended Army Act, only up to 12 percent of the total payment for service in UN missions can be deducted. (source)
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Comments
23 responses to “General Problem in Army: Boys Feel Cheated”
There is no doubt that the army is one of the biggest corruption rackets of the country. It will be good to see them under heavy pressure to crunch it out, but I don’t see any such pressure coming yet.
I think the best thing to do is just dismantle the army altogether. Send the people to better jobs. I guess it will be politically bad just now becuase they could decide to cout to hit back. So, the optimized plan is to squeeze them slow and steady. I wish the new powers luck in doing just that. NO ARMY — MAOIST AND NEPAL. WHO ARE WE FIGHTING?
The Army and the whole structure of the government that has its base on the feudal oligarchic system has to be restructured.
The Army men below the position of leutanent are immorally and unnecessarily exploited. This corruption begins from having them for officers’family work to promotion to UN job assignment.
Such army tradition have to be abolished with the democrative rights and value. The army actually got more corrupt after Gyanendra Shah took the power though he was manupulating army from illegimately. That’s how he could wipe the entire family of king Birendra and for this army is responsible.
The whole army officers are corrupt with the currenct structures of the army. The simple questions we have to ask for the Representatives of the house to investigate how army officer could make money to have house in Kathmandu, with the private car and their wives living like queens surounded by army men as their servents in the house?
All army officer last 50 years from the dawn of Panchayet system have done smuggling business with Gyanendra Shah… smuggling ancient statues and drugs and have worked with the drug cartel of the world.
Therefore, Gyanendra Shah was in the list of drug cartel and during the king Birendra he was on the wanted list and Birendra wanted to find out who was in the palace involved in the drug cartel business.
Therefore Gyanendra Shah has staged the massacre of the royal family of Birendra.
This is the history yet to be confirmed by the historian in the future with DNA testing.
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Now coming to the fact that until and unless the monarchy is abolished from Nepal there will be no end of the corruption. The source and inspirations in the government of Nepal is the mocarchy.
For example, the Parliament has disolved the army power from the monarchy but the army office is not removed from the palace. It is still hanging on it.
Once the king is abolished from the Narayanhity and a President is elected to be head of the nation that day the corruption will stop 75% (seventy five percent).
Political parties are aware of it but they do not want change because they think that will put tab on thier power to get corrupt.
So establish the FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NEPAL to abolish the monarchy completely.
We want the corrupt, the criminal and the cartel fo drug lord Gyanendra Shah be abolished and punished as soon as possible.
Establish REPUBLIC OF NEPAL. Abolish the monarchy completely. Change the Army structure later. You don’t want IRAQ in NEPAL meaning armies siding with Mandales.
Dismantle the army?? Anon I think you have a few screws dismantled in your brain!
Why are we still fighting about the monarchy and our own army while the Maoist gangs are looting and terrorizing the countryside?
Ignorant dribble, first understand and then speak is my personal advice to you all. If we go on in the ways you recommend, it will be disasterous to for all of us nepali civilians. The maoists do not care for us they like all the others are after money and power, it would be “nice” if more people understood this. Dismantle or try to dismantle the NA, and its reprecussions will be disasterous.
I hope our most democratic leaders have a democracy in store for us, I don’t particularly fancy a communist republic.
Anon,
Go easy on the conspiracy theories, will you? Things are bad enough as they are.
Hahaha Bhudai,
Come on man. Don’t attack him like that.
But, yea I do think there has to be complete restructuring of the army to accomodate the new found kids. And, also to make it more accountable…
Some good news coming from Doha guys
SIJAKHWA Sulochana has just qualified for the finals in karate, silver for sure cud be gold.
my apology guys in fact she lost the semifinals another bronze for nepal.
too long i have waited.
i will tell you what.
nepal, with sick people like you, wont change without a severe communism.
hail republic?
NO. HAIL REDS. HAIL COMMUNISM.
let all nepalese, except me, be beaten to the grass. short live nepal.
DONT BLAME ME
YOU BROUGHT IT ON YOUR SELF.
YOU ARE JUST STUPID FOOLS WAITING TO BE LED BY WOLVES.
AND YOU WONT KNOW IT EVEN WHEN YOU ARE DEAD.
Anon,IT MIGHT BE TRUE YOU SAID,I GUESS
bideshi,
because, as always, we are fktards?
does that answer your question?
no,
we dont want monarchy.
what we want in nepal is communism.
you know what, just for the sake of it, I SUPPORT IT, WITH MONEY AND MIND.
because i am tired of you aholes, ruining my country. if its gonna be ruined, i will make the best of it.
sorry, i even bothered to write.
UWB though u have sucked on the blood of nepal, like parasites, and grown your self, would you be kind enough to delete my comments?
UWB: which comment do you want us to delete? First, second or both (or all including this one and the one you will be posting)?
The NA is most corrupt but we can not do without the army. We have to change its top brass, its working system and, most of all,we should get rid of the feudal lord whom the army brass cadres still think their master. Maoist fighters are brain washed, cruel, currupt like south Indian sandalwood smuggler Birappan and so they can not be a national army without proper training and proper mental therapy. So, farther is rough roah but we have to go through to make national army of these two.
May be not right now, but why can’t we get rid of the army when we are done with the squabble? Let’s say a plan for 15 years?
Anon:
I have a better idea, why don’t we get rid of people like you?
Moron! What the hell are you saying? It’s one thing to say the army needs to go through some major institutional reform which it does but to say we need to get rid of the army altogeather is just ridiculous.
When we are done with the squabble? You all this is just a squabble? What you need, boy, is a hard slap across your face.
Here is what I think the NA should do.
1. Start promoting people on the basis of merit instead of surname and connection to the palace.
2. Better training especially to the lower level soldiers. In addition to military training they also need to be trained and educated on human rights issues. They must be made aware that these issues are important and if they violate it there will be serious consequences.
3. Stop expanding the size of the army. We don’t need a bigger army – we need better training and equipment.
The important thing is for the army to feel as if they are for the people. Right now the army has an attitude they are above normal people.
Why we need NA now? neither it can fight with China nor it can with India or even able to control civil war. Unnecessary burdern of Rs. 16 billion per annum should be well divert to other sectors. We can built 16 hospitals or 200 schools and collegs in single year with that budget. We can built every year one hydropower project for our neccessity. We can buy two boeings in single year for the benefit of tourism sector.
The collected fund of Rs. 10 billion should be distributed to each one who sacrifice for UN mission. So, talking about NA and managing it is useless if peace is really accuring in the country. But I doubt even that Rs. 10 billion might be misused by the politicians in the name of democracy in NA. Looking at the SPAM eye on that collected fund of Rs. 10 billion, it seems it is gone like (R)NAC and other public enterprises.
no comment
Lets take of more pressing business like the peace deal and the constitutional assembly elections. One the CA has been elected, any new rules, regulations, and law will be more justified and truly, as much as possible in Nepal, represent the popular demand. First lets get them reds to put down their guns, then lets talk about how the green(army) boys need to be managed.
well yesterdays traffic chaos caused by the royal drive about shows where the military’s loyalty still lie-why does the military have to manage these things? why can’t it be the police? or is the military still in charge of security for the royals?