Honesty in Nepali Politicians: Does It Really Exist?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1234/laj.v14i4.253364Keywords:
Politician, honesty, duty, citizen, and NepalAbstract
Principally, politicians should be honest, and perform public duties professionally. However, politicians' honesty is observed to be considerably low in the eye of the citizens. In this backdrop, we analyzed the honesty of Nepali politicians using micro-level data from the Nepal National Governance Survey 2017/18, and analyzed using the ordered logit (Probit) model. Results showed that the citizen’s perception of honesty in Nepali politicians is very low. Most Nepali citizens viewed the politicians as dishonest because they have failed to perform their public duties with honesty. Politicians have failed to deliver their promises and left citizen’s thirst for development unquenchable. Citizens openly criticized the actions, decisions, performance, and behaviour of politicians. This isn't mean to say politicians never work; obviously, in some respects, they do. Over the period, the political system has drastically changed, but the attitude and culture of politicians have not changed much. The values, beliefs, principles and practices of a democratic republican governance system are not fully implemented owing to the dishonesty in politicians. It is exciting to note that politicians' honesty is positively and negatively influenced by citizens' demographics and social associations.
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