In a recent Strictly Business column, Ashu Tiwari laments the case of missing local government in Nepal. For the last 9 years, there have been no local representatives in office. Their roles and responsibilities have been handed to hand-picked bureaucrats from the central government.
That reminded me of the old A-MA-LE slogan: अफ्फनो गाऊ अफ्फै बनाऊ! And that slogan is not really a bad policy. Actually, I would like to extend Tiwari's argument. Why do we have bureaucrats from the center in every district office? In every organ of the state functioning in the districts--be it the education, water, roads--the managers, the हाकिम are the outsiders. They suffer from the same apathy towards their jobs and their postings as do the appointed representatives now.
Of course, it would take a long time for Nepal to totally have decentralized public administration for each region and district. However, it should be mandatory that any official who aims for high office should come from a pool of locals as much as possible. That way, their expertise would help their own place. They may even be more responsible and strategic in their activities.
