Issue of accountability!

The three types of vacuum -political, security and governance- that emerged for two days as Gen Z revolution progressed in the country is quite serious. It is an issue of accountability and some institutions or those who presided over them at the time should be accountable individually or collectively. But so far there is no step or word towards this direction. Those who were in power at the time and those who governed the country for most parts of the past two decades or more appear to evade the issue and escape accountability. Their behaviour gives an impression that the vacuum is no more than a just “another normal” following a general political demonstration. Three immediate past Prime Ministers of the country’s three leading political parties have responded to Gen Z movement through three modalities – delegating leadership to second rank party office holder, changing party structure and organizational process and guarding intact the existing power structure and protocol in the party. None has explained why they could not perform, deliver goods and services to serve people despite holding the high executive office of PM for long in different times. To them it was not an issue of importance and priority. Values of ethics, morality, politics and statecraft expected that some or all of three should have collectively or individually uttered a word or two of SORRY for nonperformance. The tragedies demanded some accountability in the minimum. Analysts find in their non-performance and race for personal ego and petty partisan interest for decades mines of public frustration, demotivation, unemployment, bad governance, anti-corruption and pessimism among youths. The same found expression in Gen Z movement which was instrumental in disabling, in a very short time, the network of governance, politics and security. Although Nepal has history of evading accountability at high offices, the latest one could not be simply wished away for it has resulted in huge –unprecedented-  loss- human, property and the very base of state-authority. Lessons should be learnt from it and a culture of taking responsibility for actions and decisions should be nurtured. The same would help safeguard, in a sustainable way, the foundation of governance, politics and security for public good. The same would also serve to address the goal of Gen Z revolution.