Monday, December 4, 2017

Who Pays for Corruption in Nepal?

The following is a response to an excerpt from Nation Swell from May, 2017, PERSPECTIVE ON POVERTY: A SYSTEMATIZED APPROACH TO IMPROVING HEALTHCARE

"there’s a fair amount of political will and a lot of interest in building a system of universal health care [in Nepal]" says Mr. Mark Arnoldy (salary unknown), Aid Agent at Possible Health

“POLITICAL WILL” with “A LOT OF INTEREST” exists because of resources brought by foreigners trying to engage in and ultimately change Nepal—typically without a mandate from the people themselves. Simply, money piques “POLITICAL WILL” of ruling gangsters—precisely, the people subjugating the country.

Unfortunately, this has been happening in Nepal for 60+ years. Instead of a dazzling Himalayan nation, Nepal is faltering in nearly every way--failing from the corruption, malfeasance and lack of development (ironically fueled by ‘aid’) and all the ills associated with a severe lack of development.

“AID UNDERMINES WHAT IMPOVERISHED PEOPLE NEED MOST—CLEAN, EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE” -A. Deaton, Nobel Prizewinner in Economic Sciences, 2015

Few of the never-ending troops of foreign invaders, to none, seem to be the wiser as to the ultimate source of Nepal’s unceasing tragedy.

In fact, most foreign agents arrive to Kathmandu with little to no language and culture skills and unwittingly fall for the same old counter-effective strategies and activities that have kept Nepal in a pickle jar for decades. They end up playing into the hands of elite ruling gangsters (necessarily disguised as helpful participants, advisors, assistants, etc.). The deadly paradigm is thereby perpetuated no matter how hopeful the intentions of interlopers.

All the while, foreign agents collect massive salaries (tax-free) and are provided for in ways that elevate them to the very highest echelon of a society that they traveled overseas to change. In fact, the largest beneficiaries of ‘aid’ are the aid agents themselves and ruling gangsters that siphon off funds to become even more powerfully entrenched.

Meanwhile, the unrepresented people of Nepal face lethal suffering due to lack of development, lack of opportunity and chronic poverty and all its horrific ills including poor health. Nepalis are fleeing their homeland in droves for lack of opportunity at home wrought by dysfunctional rulers abetted by endless aid schemes. Most escape to countries rife with human rights issues, especially for migrant workers (including India, Malaysia and Gulf countries—can you imagine flinging yourself into a hard-labour job in these countries?). Over thirty Nepalis a month arrive back to Nepal sealed-up in cadaver bags and who knows how many return with life-changing disabilities. Any doubt about who pays for corruption -- even with lifeblood?

Well, who is to blame? Unfortunately, the aid sector with massive funding and immense power warps “POLITICAL WILL” (including the labyrinthine UN, World Bank, USAID, DFID—full of faceless bureaucrats--and countless others operating in Nepal—too many to keep track of, in fact there is no supervision of these entities overmastering Nepal other than toothless internal reviews, if that. Apparently, changing Nepal is too irresistible for this cadre of well-paid, well-fed farangs. Perhaps it’s the massive salaries, perks and social merit points that help them overlook their twisted effects on a would be paradise and its people!

One thing remains certain, political power of the elite class has held Nepal and its people hostage for centuries. Presently, with money, power and position, the ruling class, underwritten by ‘aid’, ruthlessly wields leverage and power over a long-oppressed people.

This may come as news to aid interlopers -- Nepalis are talented and capable enough to do everything that foreigner operators are trying to do and much more – if given the chance. They know what they themselves want and need most and they know exactly what to do, too. Unfortunately, they don’t have any opportunity at all. They are smothered by a ruling class abetted by foreign entities.

To have a chance, the people need the path cleared. They need cleared out of their way all of the corrupt, non-transparent, dysfunctional, self-serving bureaucrats and elite gangsters—an impossibility when these are the very wrong people that are deeply embedded and their domination is buoyed by foreigners handing over aid funds and thereby greater and greater means to power and control.

The ruling class and the aid sector hold total sway and use it in self-serving ways rather than empowering local people to chase their own dreams with their own talents and capabilities. Again, the biggest beneficiaries of ‘aid’ are aid entrepreneurs themselves and ruling gangsters that siphon off funds and become more powerfully entrenched—all to the lethal detriment of the people.

The people want nothing less than freedom and the right to chase their own dreams and goals with their own abilities and talents. Instead, they have 6+ decades of extra-bureaucrats in the form of ‘aid’ workers intervening and intermingling with the gangsters without knowing any better. They seemingly have an endless amount of time and funding, again, funding going to precisely the wrong cronies as well as their own fat wallets. INGOs underwrite dysfunctional ruling crocodiles and the indefinite tragedy roils on and on and on…indefinitely it seems--have the bad guys won out completely and in the process Nepal has become a failed state?

What will it take for the aid industry to get the message…will it tragically take more suffering and more death?

"DO NOT GO ABROAD TO SLAY DRAGONS THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND" -J.Q. Adams

For more on this topic, please see: Great Himalayan Fairy Tale

#Nepal #GlobalDev #DeadAid #deadbeat #donordarlings #aid #SDGs #corruption

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