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What's Wrong with FNCCI?
We have a new President at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI)! Our main byapari body just got done with its 60th Annual General Meeting and of course, the election as well. It's been sixty years and our 'big' byaparis still haven't gotten it right when it comes to paying fair wages to the workers, not evading taxes, not engaging in under-invoicing and fake VAT bill scams and many other shady acts!
The FNCCI has a rule that whoever is the Senior Vice-President gets to be the President next. I don't know how fair that is because when it comes to elections in this country, be it our federal or provincial or some byapari body or even local youth clubs, there will always be factions and bhag-banda deals along the way!
If you look at their executive committee, it's usually the same old dozen families controlling the body and their princelings climbing up the ladder as associate members and what not! Even our Finance Minister openly talks about how he got frightened when he looked at the reports on public land grabbing, tax evasion and money laundering by most of our 'big' business houses. Even Hollywood's horror movies look lame when it comes to the loot by some of our shady byaparis in the past not three but six decades!
Our 'big' byapari community always tell us that if it weren't for them, then Nepal would have been a failed state a long time ago. Well, when I look at the math, it is actually our migrant workers abroad who have kept our economy alive in the past two decades and not the cable cars, banks or five-star hotels!
Yes, our big business houses provide employment to 300,000 folks in this country but that is not enough. It's around 1% of the population! It's usually the medium-sized businesses and even the small ones that employ a million folks in this country. Our 5 million-strong diaspora actually supports at least 20 million folks back home!
Most of our 'big' byaparis all own the banks, insurance, private schools and hospitals and the majority of the trading businesses in this country. I don't call them entrepreneurs... let's call them middlemen because most of the time they make their money by selling us the cars, bikes and Kitkat and Pringles and even plastic-like spicy fish from across the northern border!
The Balen government is on steroids when it comes to going after all illegal stuff in this country. The FNCCI is worried. One of its former Presidents is in police custody for engaging in illegal financial transactions when it comes to purchasing shares!
I think the Balen government should provide amnesty to all our byaparis when it comes to previous misdeeds. No jail time but if you have evaded taxes and bribed government officials, then come clean, pay the ill-gotten savings and be a witness in court so that we can finally house at least ten thousand corrupt hakims, netas and jholeys in Dasarath Rangasala for a year while we build a mega prison with full-on hardcore labor activities designed by our very own Harka Sampang!
We wish the new FNCCI executive committee all the best and hope they will finally do the right thing by paying fair wages to the employees, paying all taxes and letting go of the public land they have encroached upon in the past three decades.
The byaparis should be happy that from now onwards, they don't have to pay silly bribes to our hakims. No more extortions from local mundrey gundas affiliated to our old chor political parties! Now, do the right thing. Don't cook your books and share your profits with your staff and get rich legally and not hundi your illegal gains across the border or in the Cayman Islands!
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