23 July 2019, Kathmandu
Good governance is a subjective term that describes the phenomenon of how public institutions and officials conduct public affairs and manage public resources in the most preferred way. It is the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented. The term ‘governance’ can apply to corporate, international, national and local governance. It is an approach that refers to a political system that guarantees opportunities for citizens to choose and replace their leaders or representatives through free and fair election.
It protects and promotes the political, socio-economic and cultural rights of citizens and guarantees acceptable level of active involvement of citizens in decision making. Good governance, on the other hand, is committed to create a system of peace and justice that protects human rights and civil liberties. The concept of good governance was formulated by the World Bank in 1992 for the first time that emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies. The concept centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in society.
In the decade of 1980’s, United Nations state that, “The ultimate end of development is to achieve better quality of life for all, which means not only the economic development, but also of physical, moral, intellectual and cultural growth of the human person.” And, good governance guarantees the system helping government ultimately to be more accountable, responsive and citizen-friendly. Good governance usually has the universal features comprising accountability, participation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus orientation, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, and so far strategic vision etc.
Good governance, on the next hand, is directly associated to the concept of ‘zero tolerance’ and ‘Why culture?’ in order to ensure healthy and responsive conduction of public affairs. Zero tolerance is the condition of not tolerating any wrong doings and delay in the public activities to be performed by the government officials. Similarly, ‘Why culture?’ is the phenomenon that explains the culture of asking questions to get logical answers and to become aware to fight against corruption. However, there is no silver bullet for fighting corruption. Though, some considerations may be taken into account in order to ensure anti-corrupted society.
Effective law enforcement is essential to ensure corruption free society breaking the cycle of impunity. Civil society should be aware to support the process with initiatives such as Transparency International. In addition to this, public administration and finance management should be reformed, promote transparency and access to information, empower citizens and close international loopholes. So far, each individual should be responsible to discourage the growing social chaos for fostering corruption.
