Constitution Writing Controversy And Reality

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Nepalese politicians have been sending confusing messages, some politicians saying a new constitution could be promulgated on time while other politicians saying it is not possible. The reality is members of the Constituent Assembly have already completed debating the draft papers submitted by eleven Constitution Assembly Committees on various subject matters and those draft papers have been submitted to the Constitutional Committee for preparing a consolidated draft of a new constitution. Only the major four political parties such as UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and Madheshi political parties together have to work on reaching consensus on certain contentious subject matters such as number of provinces and their names.

Some politicians say that completion of writing a new constitution will not be possible without extending the term of the Constituent Assembly while others say that ninety percent of the writing of a new constitution is completed; so, the Constituent Assembly could promulgate it on schedule. Some say that the writing of a new constitution has to follow so many formalities it would be impossible to do so if the term of the Constituent Assembly is not extended. Others say that the legislators need to stay in closed rooms and work day and night to complete the writing of a new constitution on time.

Constituent Assembly Committees on various subject matters have completed their draft and concept papers on their respective subject matters and have submitted to the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Members of the Constituent Assembly have debated the papers and have dispatched those papers to the Constitutional Committee for finalizing those papers and then integrating those papers into a single new constitution for promulgating it on May 28, 2010.

The Constitutional Committee needs to do a lot of work on these papers, as it has received most of the draft papers on a new constitution with the notes of dissent. So, the Constitutional Committee has to do very hard homework to reach consensus on the drafts. Chairman of the Constitutional Committee Nilamber Acharya has said that completing the writing of a new constitution would not pose a problem if all political leaders work seriously on reaching consensus on a new constitution.

The public debate on the state structure has been going on. The fourteen provinces the Constituent Assembly Committee on State-restructuring formulated and decided by a majority vote has been the main target of criticism so far. Debate has been going on for and against the fourteen provinces and the names of those provinces in the Nepalese media. Some say giving some of those provinces ethnic names would create the division of the country in the ethnic lines; others say that these names would be the glue binding all ethnic Nepalis into a single Nepal.

One of the main parts of the writing of a new constitution is the peace process. Integrating the fighters of the People’s Liberation Army into the Nepal Army is the fundamental part of the peace process. Leaders of UCPN-Maoist have been saying in public that the integration of the fighters of the People’s Liberation Army needs to be done simultaneously with the writing of a new constitution and formulation of a new security plan whereas leaders of other political parties such as NC and CPN-UML have been saying that the integration of the fighters of the People’s Liberation Army into the Nepal Army needs to be done before the completion of the writing of a new constitution.

In addition, leaders of the UCPN-Maoist have been saying that only the national government headed by their party would be able to complete the writing of a new constitution whereas leaders of the coalition government have been saying that the current government would successfully complete the writing of a new constitution. The fact is only the two-third majority of the Constituent Assembly could promulgate a new constituent. The current government is a majority government; it has not the two-majority to be able to promulgate a new constitution.

The High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) made up of three top leaders such as Prachanda of UCPN-Maoist, Girija Prasad Koirala of NC and Jhalanath Khanal of CPN-UML and Prime Minister Madhav Nepal as an invitee is there to work as a troubleshooter. Weak positions of Girija Prasad Koirala and Jhalanath Khanal in their respective political parties would not surely made it as effective as it would like to be. However, it would certainly contribute to resolving major political problems if they have a political-will to do so.

Politicians such as KP Oli of the CPN-UML and Ramchandra Poudel and his colleagues of the NC are certainly not for allowing the HLPM to work smoothly. They have been trying to distract the attention of the HLPM from the main political issues such as completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution charging the HLPM with trying to engage in making and breaking of a government.

KP Oli and Prime Minister Madhav Nepal have been saying that the HLPM has no authority to change the current government. They want to mislead the people saying such things even though they know only the legislature has the constitutional rights to make and break a government. They have been simply ignoring the political principle of only the legislature could change a government to deceive the people that believe in the newspaper reports.

If anybody thinks it logically s/he would know that these three leaders such as Prachanda, Girija Prasad Koirala and Jhalanath Khanal of the major political parties have the people’s mandate to complete the peace process rationally and writing of a new constitution on time. These three political parties combined together have the two-third majority in the current Constituent Assembly; so they could make and break a government and even remove the President for his unconstitutional move on directly writing a letter to the then army chief.

The problem is the uneasy political situation all these three political leaders have been facing. Even knowing the President’s move on directly writing a letter to the then army chief is against the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, Girija Prasad Koirala has to nod that the move is democratic and constitutional for saving the faces of the leaders of his party that have urged the President to take such an unconstitutional step. In the hope of getting the position of Prime Minister, Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal has led the bunch of the unscrupulous political leaders to the residence of the President for urging him to take the undemocratic step. However, Mr. Khanal has to give the way to the senior leader of his party but defeated in two constituencies Madhav Nepal for the position of Prime Minister, as the main political party NC wants him to be the Prime Minister rather than Khanal that has been flip-flopping all the time. Prachanda has quit the position of Prime Minister only to regret it.

Currently, these three political leaders have different goals. Possibly, Girija Prasad Koirala has the twin goals of being the second President of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, and of course of receiving the Noble Peace prize if possible. He deserves to be the first President but he could not be due to his own nasty political game he unwisely played; now, the political situation is so ripe for him to take the position of President even missing out the first chance. Similarly, he might receive the Noble Peace prize if he successfully leads all other political leaders to conclude the peace process rationally and promulgate a new constitution on time rather than supporting the unscrupulous man Madhav Nepal defeated in two constituencies for the position of Prime minister and keeping the President that has violated the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. Jhalanath Khanal could not even lead his own party despite being elected to the Chairman of the CPN-UML and to the seat of the constituent Assembly. Defeated leaders such as Madhav Nepal and KP Oli have been challenging him to every political step he takes. So, he might need to be satisfied with continuing as the Chairman of his party rather than seeking the position of Prime Minister. Prachanda wants his position of Prime Minister back as soon as possible; however, he might not get it back until the next election, as he would probably need to accept somebody proposed by the NC for a Prime Minister during the interim period.

Currently, Nepalese leaders are in the political whirlwind. So, they have been confused. Most of them are at a loss. Some of them have seized the opportunity and have been enjoying the positions of ministers and making as many foreign trips as possible at the cost of the taxpayers’ money, as they would not be able to do so once they are out of the ministerial jobs. Some others particularly Madhav Nepal have been making huge money rising the prices of sugar, rice, lintels and vegetables. He thinks that Nepalis do not understand his tricks but every Nepali knows that Madhav Nepal is the main culprit for making all food items so costly and off-limit to the poor.

Nepalese politicians have engaged in saying anything about other side to embarrass others even if it is false and malicious. It has developed a wider rift among the political parties and has brought divisions among the politicians causing harm to the country. They need to end such things immediately.

To come out of the current political turbulence, every political leader sincerely needs to work on completing the writing of a new constitution and promulgating it on time. Every member of the Constituent Assembly should think that Nepalis have sent him/her to the Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution that gives justice and equality to all Nepalis so that every Nepali enjoys equal rights and opportunities and shares in the country’s wealth so that all Nepalis of amazing diversity could bind together in the federalism. So, they need to work on achieving the people’s aspirations for writing a new constitution on time and then institutionalize the rule of law for every Nepali to live in peace and security.

February 12, 2010