Dummy Prime Minister And Referee-less Political Game

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Madhav Nepal has been a living dummy since he became a Prime Minister in May 2009. He could not do anything independently. He had either to wait the order from late Girija Prasad Koirala when he was alive or from his colleague KP Oli that has often channeled the order from their bosses in India. Now, he has been taking the order from Acting President of NC Sushil Koirala. He has been the consequent Prime Minister of the political game played by the three major political parties without a referee.

His government has not been able to formulate polices and programs for the fiscal year 2010 (2067). He has been begging the favor of the NC leaders particularly the Acting President Sushil Koirala for cooperation on preparing polices and programs of his government before he really quits the job but Sushil asks him not to be in hurry but stay on the position until ‘I ask you to quit.’

Sushil has been busy with making a Prime Minister of a new government sidelining the UCPN-Maoist. He has no ambition to be a Prime Minster but he has been facing the dilemma of choosing a new Prime Minster. When he said, “we need to follow the NC statute for choosing a candidate for a Prime Minister” means the parliamentary leader automatically becomes the Prime Minister; obviously, opting for Ram Chandra Poudel to be the next Prime Minister has created uproar at the Deuba camp. Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has challenged the validity of Sushil’s rule of law saying Madhav Nepal is not the Parliamentary leader of his party CPN-UML but he has been the Prime Minister. Mr. Deuba has forgotten or ignored that Madhav Nepal does not follow the rule of law nor does his party.

Madhav Nepal could not call the session of the legislature despite the Speaker warning him of the need for calling the session of the legislature latest on June 18, 2010 and them submit policies and programs of the government for the fiscal year 2010 to the legislature to have two weeks time for debating them following the rule of law. However, poor Madhav Nepal as his mentor Sushil follows the rule of law only when he needs to gain from it. So, Madhav Nepal has already missed the latest date for submitting policies and programs of his government to the legislature.

The government cannot submit the budget for the fiscal year 2010 without the legislature passing the policies and the programs. So, Madhav Nepal has already consulted his legal experts to see whether he can sideline the legislature and use the presidential decree to pass the budget so that his government would not be stuck without having the budget to run the state businesses.

The UCPN-Maoist leaders have already declared that they would not allow the legislature to pass the budget for the fiscal year 2010. Madhav Nepal cannot do anything but look on as a living dummy. He wants to get out of his current position but he could not do so as the approval of Sushil has not come, yet.

His six ministers such as Energy Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, Irrigation Minister Bal Krishna Khand, Local Development Minister Purna Kumar Sherma, Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari, Labor Minister Mohammad Aftab Alam and Forest Minister Deepak Bohara have been implicated in corruption by the state-run National Vigilance Center. Madhav Nepal either as a dummy could not do anything or he himself is a shady person, so he does not want to do anything. However, Madhav Nepal as a Prime Minister goes on advising the state employees to be free from corruption.

The state-run National Vigilance Center (NVC) directly accountable to the Prime Minister has recommended to the Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for probing into the corruption charges on six ministers in the current cabinet according to the news posted on the Nepalnews.com of June 21, 2010.

Energy Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has been charged with taking tens of millions of rupees from solar energy companies for stopping the import of inverters, Irrigation Minister Bal Krishna Khand with taking up to Rs 300,000 per person for transferring engineers and other employees serving at his ministry from the less profit-making offices to lucrative offices, Local Development Minister Purna Kumar Sherma with causing financial irregularities at various projects implemented at the grassroots level, Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari with taking a commission of Rs 30 million for installing CCTVs at the cost of Rs 60 million at the International Airport in Kathmandu, Labor Minister Mohammad Aftab Alam with not taking action against a manpower agency for using the permission stickers meant for a different company and of providing labor permission to women without approval of the concerned embassy, and Forest Minister Deepak Bohara with protecting illegal loggers in various parts of the country.

On June 21, 2010, speaking to the high-ranking state official at his office, Singh durbar in Kathmandu, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has said that he has not been satisfied with their performances according to the state-run newspaper ‘The Rising Nepal’ of June 22, 2010.

"You have been unable to execute your duty and deliver services to the people. You are working just for the sake of job," he told high-ranking officials blushed at the Prime Minister’s comment. He has mentioned a number of projects his administration had initiated a year ago but not implemented, yet.

"The construction of the republic memorial pillar, fast track, Jorpati-Shakhu Road and others national projects began one year ago but they are not completed till the date largely due to corruption and red-tapes of bureaucracy," he said

"Secretary should not visit (foreign missions) more than two times a year while the ministers will not be allowed to include their relatives and cadres (in the entourages) while going abroad," he said. However, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and his ministers have widely misused the taxpayers’ money for including their family members in their entourage of officials while visiting foreign countries on official businesses.

He said that Nepal topped the index of the corrupt nations because there was lacking reward and punishment system. It has been primarily due to Prime Minister Madhav Nepal not following the rule of law, and promoting corrupt army, police and civil officials and awarding them the state honors on the Republic Day in 2010.

The legislative Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has summoned Deputy Prime Minister holding the portfolio of Ministry of Physical Planning and Works Bijaya Gacchedhar to inquire about the financial irregularities found at his ministry in the fiscal year 2009 but Mr. Gacchedhar has not appeared before the PAC on the pretext of his health condition; after several callings finally Mr. Gacchedhar has appeared at the PAC office on June 22, 2010 according to the Nepalnews.com. Speaking to the PAC members, Mr. Gacchedhar has said that his ministry has had no financial irregularities but concerning the release of Rs 400 million to various projects for the Dhanusha district alone, Mr. Gacchedhar has said that he has released the money under the pressure of State Minister for Physical Planning and Works Sanjay Saha. Obviously, this has been done to please the constituents of Mr. Saha.

On Sunday, June 20, 2010, at the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence at Baluwatar, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has urged the senior NC leaders to cooperate him on preparing policies and programs and the new budget of his government according to the State-run newspaper ‘The Rising Nepal’ of June 21, 2010. Leaders of the two ruling parties have discussed the issues the Madhav government would face in the legislature while debating policies and programs and the budget in the Legislature. However, they have already missed the latest date of submitting policies and programs of the government to the legislature following the rule of law. Obviously, none of the so-called leaders have been concerned with the rule of law.

On June 21, 2010, UCPN-Maoist leaders have made it clear to the top leaders of NC at the high-level meeting held at Singha Durbar that they won’t support polices and programs and the budget of the Madhav Nepal government for the fiscal year 2010 as long as he remains the Prime Minister blocking the formation of a national consensus government under their party's leadership according to the Nepalnews.com. They have also said that the UCPN-Maoist legislators will not let the policies and programs and the budget pass in the legislature until Madhav Nepal resigns from the position of Prime Minister.  However, NC leaders have not changed their stand on the UCPN-Maoist first enforcing the first two points of the three-point agreement for the resignation of the Prime Minister.

NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel will be the party’s candidate for the Prime Ministerial position, as the NC Central Working Committee members have persuaded another claimant for the position Sher Bahadur Deuba not to claim for the position according to the news carried by ‘The Himalayan Times’ of June 21, 2010. The paper has quoted Acting President of NC Sushil Koirala that the party cannot go against its statute; NC’s PP (parliamentary party) statute clearly states that the PP leader will lead a government and the party will abide by that.

On June 21, 2010, Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has condemned Acting President of NC Sushil Koirala for saying in public that the Parliamentary Party leader will be automatically the Prime Minister following the NC statute in other words supporting Ram Chandra Poudel for Prime Minister according to the ‘Himalayan News Service’ of June 21, 2010. Supporters of Deuba in the NC have held a meeting to lobby for supporting Deuba for a new Prime Minister but Sushil has cautioned that such a meeting would damage the image of the party and push the party to split again.

On June 22, 2010, speaking at a program held in Kathmandu, Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Koirala, just returned to Kathmandu from a trip to India has said that the NC should not take the reign of the coalition government before its 12th general convention, as it would push the NC to split according to the Nepalnews.com. She has hoped that the general convention would strengthen the reunion of the breakaway NC-D with the mother party NC in 2007. However, her colleagues not in the government have been lobbying for forming a new majority government sidelining the UCPN-Maoist.

On June 21, 2010, Speaker Subash Nemwang has said that the government has not submitted its policies and programs for the fiscal year 2010 although it should have been done 15 days before the presentation of the annual budget at the legislature following the rules; consequently, the legislature will not be able to hold the debate on policies and programs of the government according to the ‘Himalayan News Service’ of June 21, 2010.

The Speaker has lamented that the government could not convene the budget session by June 18, 2010 despite his advice to the Prime Minister to do so, as the leaders have not reached the consensus politics. The legislature could not hold budget discussions last year, too, as Madhav Nepal became Prime Minister in the third week of May. He has said that the legislature needed to suspend the provision for debating policies and programs undermining the legislators’ rights to express views on the State’s fiscal policies.

Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has been the product of the unscrupulous legislators of the eighteen political parties. Some people say that these unprincipled guys have supported him with the blessings from the Indian bosses. So, Madhav Nepal has been serving the interest of India. Some political analysts say that he has even taking orders from the Indian leaders through his colleague KP Oli. He has not been accountable to the Nepalis, as Nepalis have rejected him at two constituents in the elections held for the Constituent Assembly-cum-legislature on April 10, 2008. Morally Madhav Nepal and his supporters have been bankrupt in the eyes of Nepalis but the leaders of the so-called largest democracy in the world: India have been favoring the Prime Minister and his supporters that have no shame on betraying Nepalis for short-term financial benefits.

On June 21, 2010, speaking at a function held to release a new monthly journal in Kathmandu, Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda has warned of the country plunging into political crisis if the ruling two major parties such as NC and CPN-UML leaders don’t sincerely enforce the three-point agreement they have reached on May 28, 2010.

The UCPN-Maoist leaders have been saying that they have voted for extending the term of the Constituent Assembly on the understanding that Prime Minister Madhav Nepal would resign immediately following the three-point agreement they have reached for extending the term of the Constituent Assembly but the NC and CPN-UML leaders have tricked them saying the Prime Minister will resign only after the first two points of the three-point agreement are enforced.

The NC and CPN-UML leaders have been blaming the UCPN-Maoist leaders for not enforcing the past agreements they have reached. UCPN-Maoist leaders in turn have blamed the NC and CPN-UML leaders for not cooperating on enforcing the previous agreements for not completing the peace process and for not promulgating a new constitution.

The three major political parties such as UCPN-Maoist, NC and CPN-UML have been playing political games without a referee. So, they have been free to interpret the agreements they have reached as it suits them the most. Nobody is there to enforce the agreements following the rule of law. Policing is required for bringing these guys under the umbrella of the rule of law.

June 25, 2010