-By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu- Where do you find MPs submitting forged medical bills to gain monetary benefits, or selling vehicles bought under custom facility at a hefty profit and getting away with it?

In many countries morality and personal conduct of MPs and persons at high offices are taken very seriously. Even the slightest breach of morality and wrong conduct are considered grave offences, which can finish off the political career of the politicians.

However, in Nepal there are countless examples in the last 10 years, when our MPs and ministers have been getting away with every imaginable kind of misconduct. The massive deviation and distortion in the behaviour and conduct of the MPs have degraded them in the eyes of the people.

It is an irony that after 10 years of the establishment of democracy, lawmakers think they need to have some kind of code of conduct to bind and regulate the behaviour and activities of the law makers.

Meanwhile, an interaction programme was organised jointly by the parliament secretariat and the National Democratic Institute of the United States for the formulation of a code of conduct for the parliamentarians.

At the programme a 7-point draft proposal, prepared by an Upper House Committee was presented. Some of the points proposed in the draft are: the disclosure of the income and asset of the MPs and their families within three months of their election, the MPs must not exert any kind of opinion on any kind of monetary and financial influence, the MPs behaviours must not have any kind of negative impact on the society and their work should enhance the dignity and prestige of the House.

However, these proposals look more like a plain statement. One of the major discrepancies of the proposal is that it has failed to address what needs to be done to those who have failed to abide by the code of conduct.

Participants in the discussion programme, which included lawmakers, former speakers, ministers and others, have expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the code of conduct.

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Daman Nath Dhungana and others said unless there is a mechanism of enforcing it strictly, it would be useless. He also said when the men in power are crossing over and bypassing the law, the code of conduct may only be a ‘weak guide’ at the most.

However, what Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai said at the programme may apply to most of our MPs. He said the MPs are very adamant, and there should be some provision on what should be done to those MPs who do not follow the codes.

Most of the opinions expressed have failed to address the crux of the matter. Thus, it sounds only as a halfhearted attempt to bring the lawmakers within some kind of law.