Prakash Kafle/Kathmandu. Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has sparked a significant national debate following the release of its election manifesto, which pledges to refund small depositors of crisis-ridden cooperatives within 100 days of forming a government. The party proposes establishing an “Integrated Savings Protection Fund” to prioritize those with savings up to 500,000 NPR. To finance this, RSP suggests issuing government-guaranteed domestic bonds and adopting a policy of “conditional release” for jailed cooperative chairpersons, provided they agree to settle their liabilities through a legal settlement process.
However, this plan has met with stiff resistance from political figures and civic leaders who argue that using taxpayer money to cover the losses of private entities sets a dangerous precedent. Harka Sampang, the Mayor of Dharan and Chairman of the Shram Sanskriti Party, has took a sharp stance against the proposal, labeling the use of the state treasury for such purposes as “planned corruption.” Sampang argued that RSP should focus on recovering funds by liquidating the personal assets and properties of the fraudulent operators rather than dipping into the public purse. “The state treasury belongs to the people; their taxes should be spent on planned development, not on bailing out fraudsters,” Sampang stated in a viral social media post.
Economic experts have also raised concerns regarding the “Moral Hazard” this policy might create. They warn that if the government steps in to compensate for the failures of private cooperative management, it may encourage financial indiscipline in other sectors, expecting similar bailouts in the future. While RSP maintains that this is a temporary relief measure to be later reimbursed by seizing the culprits’ assets, critics like Sampang insist that the burden of private fraud must never fall on the shoulders of the general taxpayer. As the election approaches, the debate over whether to use state resources or focus strictly on asset recovery from “thugs” is becoming a central political issue.
