Civic Vigilance To Curb Local Corruption

When the Constituent Assembly promulgated the federal democratic constitution in 2015, the catchphrase "Singha Durbar in every village" became a rallying cry, promising self-governance, efficient public service delivery, and equitable local development. However, the succeeding years have manifested deeply troubling practices that challenge the idea. These practices even seem to defy the foundational promises of the country's devolved federal structure. These systemic weaknesses in the so-called local Singha Durbar have been highlighted in the 36th annual report submitted by the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to President Ram Chandra Paudel recently. 

The CIAA report revealed that it had handled 40,842 complaints of alleged corruption and administrative irregularities during the fiscal year 2025/26, and nearly half of these complaints – 20,025 cases, or 49.03 per cent – were lodged directly against local municipalities. The municipalities have been singled out as the corrupt layer of the state institution. The most immediate reason, according to some experts, for the surge in local-level corruption is the massive shift of financial resources and administrative authority from the centre to the local levels. Under the fiscal federalism framework, substantial budgets are funnelled to Nepal’s 753 local municipalities with recourse to equalisation, conditional, complementary, and special grants. 

Irregularities

When vast resources reach the ward and municipal levels without corresponding arrangements of institutional checkpoints, irregularities are bound to emerge. The municipalities lack the structural capacity to absorb these funds transparently. In many municipalities, the rapid influx of capital collided with weak accounting infrastructures and a complete lack of internal control systems, and weak oversight mechanisms. A fundamental flaw inherent in local municipalities has been the acute deficit of institutional capacity and technical expertise. While political representation was established through local elections, the bureaucratic machinery failed to keep pace.