Courting Former Prime Ministers And Chief Secretaries

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has invited former prime ministers and former chief secretaries to his office at Singhadurbar on September 7, 2011 and courted them to share their experiences in running administration with him. Dr. Bhattarai would have been well off if he has courted the leaders of the civil society, president and members of Nepal Bar Association, Chairman and members of Nepal Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the international community in Kathmandu rather than the corrupt former prime ministers and former bureaucrats. The prime minister must have learned from the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats how to run the administration unscrupulously rather than following the rule of law.

The four prime ministers that have attended the meeting with the prime minister on September 7, 2011 are Jhalanath Khanal, Sher B. Deuba, Lokendra B. Chand and Surya B. Thapa. Madhav Nepal could not attend the meeting because he was in the Japan visit. Similarly, Prachanda has been busy with other activities.

Everybody knows that Jhalanath Khanal has not done anything during his six-month stay in the office. He has trumpeted the need for a consensus government for about eight months but he has unethically reached a seven-point deal with the UCPN-Maoist in secrete for the support of the UCPN-Maoist for him to get elected to the office of prime minister. During the six-month stay in the office of prime minister, Mr. Khanal could not do anything but he has blamed both the UCPN-Maoist and the NC for not cooperating with him on completing the peace process and the constitution writing. He has faced serious challenges from the colleagues of his own party. His colleagues have not only done nothing to help him in completing the peace process and the constitution writing but also they have spent most of their time and energy on pushing him out of power. So, Mr. Khanal needs to blame his own colleagues for his fall from the power rather than other political parties. What Mr. Khanal could share his experiences in running the administration with Dr. Bhattarai?

Mr. Sher B. Deuba has been the most controversial prime minister and recently the most controversial senior leader of the NC. He has planned to remove the parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Poudel of his own party either by forcing him to resign from the office or by the no-confidence motion against Mr. Poudel in view of getting elected to the office of prime minister. However, President of NC Sushil Koirala has tactfully avoided both the unwanted events making Sher B. Deuba candidate for the office of prime minister to be elected by building a consensus on it; if it could not happen then making Mr. Poudel the candidate for the office of prime minister to be elected by the majority votes of lawmakers in the parliament. Thus, Sushil Koirala has managed to keep both the contenders for the office of prime minister happy. Obviously, Mr. Deuba could not build a consensus of all political leaders on making him a new prime minister.

In the past, Mr. Deuba had sold the democracy to the palace. He had dissolved the elected parliament in 2002 consulting not only other political leaders of other parties but also his party boss Girija Prasad Koirala. Apparently, Mr. Deuba had done so with the advice of some palace officials. His party boss Girija Koirala had punished Deuba for dissolving the parliament firing him from the NC membership. Consequently, he had set up a breakaway party: NC-Democratic. Then, the king had punished him, too for not being able to hold general elections on scheduled and fired him from the office of prime minister and even labeled him as the incompetent man. Mr. Deuba had attempted to save his face from disgrace saying he had gone to the palace begging for postponing the general elections scheduled for November 2002 on the advice of other political leaders. What would this man have experiences if any to share with the dashing Bhattarai?

Lokendra B. Chand had been known as Mr. Clean in the past. He had been the prime minister several times during the notorious system called no-political party Panchayat introduced by the killer of Democracy Mahendra. Then, the people’s movement killed the Panchayat in 1990. Mr. Chand managed to be the prime minister of the coalition of his party RPP and the CPN-UML in 1997 but he had been nothing more than a puppet of his Deputy Bamdev Gautam of the CPN-UML. Then, he got another chance of getting into the office of prime minister in 2003 when the then king appointed him to the office of prime minister after firing Deuba and postponing the general elections indefinitely. Even though Mr. Chand might not be a crook but he was not a straightforward man, too. What experiences would share this guy with the prime minister?

Surya B. Thapa is one of the notorious politicians of Nepal; he should be in jail for his political misdeeds. Mr. Thapa has betrayed his mentor and political boss BP Koirala in 1960, and helped the then-king Mahendra in killing democracy and those that had stood for democracy. The result had been the 30 years of the Panchayat system that had reversed the political, economical and social gains made by the people’s movement in 1950s, and had made Nepal one of the poorest countries in the world. The king and the politicians like Mr. Thapa had sucked the blood of the poor for their luxurious lives. Many brave Nepalis had to shed their blood in 1990s to bring back the democracy lost to the then notorious rulers. Even after the reinstatement of democracy, Mr. Thapa managed to stay on in the politics due to the undemocratic activities of the so-called politicians that had claimed to be the democrats. Now, Dr. Bhattarai wants to use the experiences of such a politician like Mr. Thapa, what the irony is!

Seven former chief secretaries also had shared their experiences in running the administration with Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on September 7, 2011. Such cabinet secretaries had been ‘yes men’ of the prime ministers. These guys should have followed the rule of law but more often than not they had followed the orders of the prime ministers.

Political leaders usually forget enforcing the rule of law when they become the prime minister. Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has come out to be not different from his predecessors, as he has been shouting the benefits of the relief package rather than enforcing the rule of law. Most probably, this guy does not understand Nepalis have been suffering from the prime ministers not following the rule of law rather than not having the relief package from the government. If the government has enforced the rule of law the relief package comes with it. So, not surprisingly, Dr. Bhattarai has been seeking the experiences of the crooked politicians and the unscrupulous bureaucrats in running the administration.

If Dr. Baburam Bhattarai sincerely is for running the administration for service delivery to the people, he needs to court the civil society leaders, members of Nepal Bar Association, and members of Nepal Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the members of the international community in Kathmandu. They know what are the problems of enforcing the rule of law, and they can give the prime minister good suggestions for running the administration following the rule of law.

Civil society leaders would surely suggest the prime minister to complete the peace process and the constitution writing following the previous deals the political leaders have reached with each other. The menace to completing the peace process and the constitution writing has been the failure of the leaders in enforcing the deals they have reached with each other. Sincerity of the political leaders has been in question because of the political leaders not enforcing the agreements they have reached with each other. So, Dr. Bhattarai needs to redeem sincerity of politicians simply following the rule of law and enforcing the previous deals the political leaders have reached so far. Dr. Bhattarai has repeatedly said that he would enforce the previous deals but it remains to be seen.

If Dr. Bhattarai had courted the members of the Nepal Bar Association they would certainly be happy to provide the prime minister with the loopholes of the laws and how to plug these loopholes. Surely, some members of Nepal Bar Association have different political faith but sincere members would stand above their political faith and give good suggestions to the prime minister for running the administration in the interest of the people in general.

Chairman and members of Nepal Human Rights Commission (NHRC) would certainly ask the prime minister for setting up a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement the government of Nepal had reached with the then-CPN-Maoist: currently the UCPN-Maoist of which Dr. Bhattarai is one of the Vice-chairmen if Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai has courted them for their advice. Both the members of the state agencies and the Maoists that had allegedly involved in torture of innocent people and in the violation of human rights would have chances of clearing off such allegations and of punishing those really involved in such criminal activities. This will heal the pains of the victims of the conflict and will help in completing the peace process, which in turn helps in completing the constitution writing. However, Dr. Bhattarai has not indicated that his mind has clicked that he needs to set up such a commission even though he has mentioned in the 12-point relief package made public on Friday, September 9, 2011.

Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai has been for eradicating the endemic corruption in the politics and the administration but he has failed in courting the Chairman and members of the Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Dr. Bhattarai would know how the ministers and bureaucrats have abused their authority to loot the state treasury and what actions needs to be taken to prevent such abuse of authority if he has courted the members of CIAA. Certainly, such abuse of authority has been so prevalent in the administration because of not enforcing the rule of law.

Members of the international community in Kathmandu would be not only happy to provide the prime minister with their suggestions for good governance but also with resources if Dr. Bhattarai has approached them. Even now, the international community has been heavily engaging their resources in assisting the government and the political leaders in completing the peace process and the constitution writing and in setting the tradition of enforcing the rule of law.

His team and Dr. Bhattarai have publicly put forward the relief package. Finance Minister Barshaman Pun has read out the relief package to the reporters at the press conference held at the hall of the National Planning Commission on September 9, 2011. Such a relief package will certainly help the people to meet their immediate need in the short time. However, the relief package is nothing more than macro-managing the state affairs. Such things should be the regular business of the state agencies responsible for delivering such services. The Prime Minister should not spend his valuable time on such macro-management but should deal with the problems of the peace process and the constitution writing. However, Dr. Bhattarai could earn some merits if the state agencies strictly enforce this package program otherwise it would a cheap publicity to attract the attention of the people.

Dr. Bhattarai should know that his main tasks are to complete the peace process and the constitution writing. The main contentious issue of the peace process for NC and CPN-UML leaders has been the return of their property seized by the UCPN-Maoist cadres during the conflict, and of disarming the PLA members. Concerning the completion of the constitution writing, the same NC and CPN-UML guys have been blocking the issues of state restructuring, system of governance and general elections. So, Dr. Bhattarai needs to spend most of his time on forcing these elements that have been prevailing in the NC and CPN-UML to agree on completing the peace process and the constitution writing. Under the cover of various excuses, these elements have been for grabbing power rather than completing the peace process and the constitution writing. The coalition of the UCPN-Maoist and the UDMF that have been the main forces in bringing the country to the current political status has the rights to complete the constitution writing following the people’s mandate given during the elections to the Constituent Assembly and the people’s movement.

Replying to the questions of the reporters at the time of release of the relief package, Dr. Bhattarai has said that the property seized by the cadres of his party during the conflict with the state would be returned to the rightful owners within two weeks or so. This is only one part of completing the peace process. Leaders of NC and CPN-UML want Dr Bhattarai to disarm the members of the People’s Liberation Army following the Comprehensive Peace Process. What Dr. Bhattarai has been doing to this end should be made clear to the people at the time when leaders of NC and CPN-UML have jointly said that the turning over the keys of the containers that have stored the arms of PLA to the Army Integration Special Committee is not a big thing in the peace process. Dr. Bhattarai needs to address the issue of disarming the PLA members.

Similarly, Dr. Bhattarai needs to deal with the issues of state restructuring, system of governance and general elections if he is really going to complete the constitution writing. To this end, he needs to bring the NC and CPN-UML leaders at the negotiating table and have serious talks with them. Dr. Bhattarai cannot escape from his responsibility of completing the constitution writing simply blaming the so-called reactionary forces that have not allowed him to do so.

Dr. Bhattarai has no excuse of not having the favorable international situation for completing the peace process and the constitution writing. India has been very happy with Dr. Bhattarai. So, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has directly made a telephone to Dr. Bhattarai to congratulate him on getting elected to the office of prime minister immediately after the Nepalese parliament elected Dr. Bhattarai by the majority votes. China also has been happy with Dr. Bhattarai, as the Chinese government has been happy to assist him in completing the peace process and the constitution writing. India and China giving him due importance have invited him to the state visits.

The whole international community has been on your side to help you in completing the peace process and the constitution writing. So. Dr. Bhattarai should not lose this great opportunity of completing the peace process and the constitution writing that would certainly put Dr. Bhattarai at the special place in the Nepalese history.

Dr. Bhattarai would be well off properly and effectively using his time for completing the two nationally important tasks such as completing the peace process and the constitution writing. Dr. Bhattarai, don’t spend your valuable time on meeting with various delegations and attending different functions that will steal your time you need to spend on the two major tasks of completing the peace process and the constitution writing mandated by the people through their representatives in the parliament.

Courting the corrupt former prime ministers and chief secretaries, Dr. Bhattarai would rather pollute his own ideology and ethics he has been holding high so far.

September 11, 2011