Forming A New Government

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Forming a new government and then doing the good job of completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution certainly thereafter holding general elections for a new parliament and a government are the tasks the most important for us to complete in a timely manner. So, we don’t want anymore on any pretext the lingering on forming a new government. Please go ahead with forming a new government no matter who takes what ministerial portfolio but ensure every minister works sincerely and follows the rule of law. In the immediate past, following the rule of law had been in crisis, consequently we had seen so many irregularities including the former prime minister taking mostly foreign trips and amassing a huge wealth even trying to open the sealed-for-centuries treasury of Lord Pashupati in Kathmandu at the last moment of Madhav Nepal leaving the office. We hope the new prime minister and his colleagues will not follow the footsteps of Madhav Nepal and his colleagues.

Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal has already disappointed us not forming a new cabinet even after two weeks of getting elected to a new prime minister. If you love the country and respect the people then you need to go ahead in forming a new government immediately rather than running in circle after your colleagues in the party and in other parties. You have signed another deal with the Chairman of UCPN-Maoist this time supplementary to the seven-point deal to please your friends and colleagues but it means another mistake your colleagues will find in it. Then, you will need to defend this mistake thus you go on spending time on defending one mistake after another rather than working on completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution.

You cannot please every body but you need two-thirds majority in the parliament to complete the peace process and the writing of a new constitution. You cannot have two-thirds in the parliament even putting all other political parties in the parliament together sideling the UCPN-Maoist. So, if you are sincere in building a nation and want to achieve the goal of institutionalizing federal democratic system then you need to go along with the UCN-Maoist and to work days and nights to complete the peace process and the writing of a new constitution and then hold general elections to a new parliament and a government. That will set the country on the right track of democratization.

Paying lip service to the democratic alliance and then doing everything against the peace process and the writing of a new constitution as some of your colleagues in the party and in other parties such as NC and some Madheshi parties have been doing will not serve the purpose of really democratizing the country. So don’t listen to those guys, as they have been lying as much as possible to the people and to themselves only to grab the power. They don’t want to complete the peace process and the writing of a new constitution although they swear by all they will work on completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution.

Defeated NC candidate for prime minister Ram Chandra Poudel has been vehemently opposing the alliance between UCPN-Maoist and your party, and has been saying that you have agreed with the UCPN-Maoist to set up a separate unit of the People’s Liberation Army within the Nepal Army. It does not seem to be harmful as long as it is under one unified command. But you need to change the name of the Nepal Army into People’s Army as the name of the Nepal Army has been highly discredited because the previous regime has used the army to suppress the people’s voices even killing innocent people. So, we don’t want the name of the army that kills the people rather than protecting them from foreign invasions. We have seen how the army has behaved in Egypt during the people’s uprising starting on January 25, 2010 and ending on February 11, 2011 ultimately forcing the dictator that had run the country for 29 years under the emergency law out of the presidential palace. So, our army should be the people friendly. We need to bring all commanders including the current second-in-command of the Nepal Army to justice for enforced disappearances of so many innocent Nepalis. Similarly, we need to prosecute former Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and his defense minister for promoting the man indicted for enforced disappearance to the current second-in-command and for covering up Major Niranjan Basnet wanted by the Kavre District Court for killing Maina Sunwar. We also need to freeze the assets of Madhav Nepal and his ministers because they have accumulated such huge wealth stealing from the national treasury. If you can do all these things you will be recorded in the history in golden letters if you simply follow the path of your predecessor then people will certainly bring you to justice one day or another.

No matter who gets what ministerial portfolio you should closely follow them to work hard for achieving our national goals of completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution. You need to bring any minister to justice if s/he indulges in irregularities, as the ministers in the past had indulged in numerous cases of irregularities such as foreign minister misusing the printing of machine-readable passports, energy minister using the resources of the Nepal Electricity Authority to electrify his house, minister for culture in conjunction with the prime minister trying to open the sealed-for-centuries treasury of Lord Pashupati in Kathmandu and Prime Minister Madhav Nepal not following the rule of law and doing everything by his cabinet decision for amassing huge wealth directly stealing from the state treasury and indirectly from the pockets of the people. If you simply follow these guys and amass huge wealth disregarding the national goals and the people’s needs then you will need to face the people’s wrath and take many other slaps on your cheeks or kicks on your body.

The people opposing the Seven-point deal you have reached with the chairman of UCPN-Maoist have been saying that it is disastrous to the country, it goes against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement the Government of Nepal reached with the UCPN-Maoist, and against the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 and so on. So, it seems that the deal you have reached with the UCPN-Maoist goes against everything; if it is true, then, you need to immediately scrap the Seven-point deal but you should go ahead with forming a new government, working on completing the peace process and the writing of a constitution even without such a deal.

You should do away with the practice of not following the rule of law that your immediate predecessor had practiced in the past. Not following the rule of law means you are keeping your neck always at risk no matter whether you are in office or out of office. People will never forgive the perpetrators of illegal acts. You should strictly follow the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 while taking any decisions on the state matters.

Not only stealing from the state treasury is crime but also stealing from the pockets of the people is also crime. Your predecessor had increased the prices of foodstuff in conjunction with the dealers of such foodstuffs to increase the prices of those food items and then decrease after he had pocketed enough money. We understand such tricks played by your predecessor Madhav Nepal even if majority of Nepalis had been ignorant of it. So, you need to be vigilant that none of your cabinet colleagues does such things in the coming days. We will also keep careful watch of the deeds of yours and your ministers in the coming days.

Don’t lay one foundation stone after another of one project or another, as your predecessor had done but work on completing the ongoing major projects such as Melamchi Drinking Water Project, Kathmandu-Hetauda Fast Tract, and so many ongoing hydro-power project putting every possible efforts on completing those projects as soon as possible. Nepalis cannot wait indefinitely for completing those projects. Don’t hold these projects hostage for making money as your predecessor had done. Give the Kathmandu-Hetauda Fast Tract Project to any reliable foreign or domestic businesspersons to complete it, as the Government of Nepal has not sufficient resources to finish this project. President of FNCCI has offered the previous government to take up this project but Former Prime Minister has awarded this project to the Nepal Army and allocated a few billion rupees just to squander.

As the part of completing the peace process, you need to set up a Truth And Revelation Commission. Family members of the victims of the enforced disappearances cannot wait indefinitely to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. They have been living in perpetually agonizing state of mind not knowing the status of their disappeared loved ones. You as the prime minister of Nepal are accountable to make public the whereabouts of the enforced disappearances made by both the Nepal Army and the Maoists during the conflict, and make financial reparation to the family members of the victims of the enforced disappearances after finding out their whereabouts.

You have the support of some matured leaders that can see the need for completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution rather than the need for grabbing the power. Fro example, former prime minister and NC senor leader Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the political leaders should support the Seven-point deal you have signed with the Chairman of UCPN-Maoist for completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution. So, you should move ahead for completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution with an unflinching determination then support for such good job will surely follow even though some losers frightened by the possibility of never getting back the power they lost to you might obstruct you.

You have seen that the consensus politics has been dead quite a long time ago particularly after the election to the Constituent Assembly-cum-parliament; so, don’t spend time on pretending to build a consensus on completing the peace process and the writing of a new constitution. Stick to the two-thirds majority for completing these two noble tasks. For running the administration, you can just act on a simple majority at the parliament to pass any bills or any proposals for development following the rule of law. You should never forget the rule of law to set the practice of our government following the rule of law. You need to initiate the process for prosecuting former prime minister and ministers for not following the rule of law.

Beware of the need for ending the practice of the state employee committing crime with the impunity, and enforcing the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for taking actions against the perpetrators of human rights violence and also enforcing the rulings of the Supreme Court of Nepal on the same cases. Your predecessor Madhav Nepal had not only ignored the rulings of the Supreme Court of Nepal and the recommendations of the NHRC for taking actions against the perpetrators of human rights violators but also even promoted them. International human rights organizations have been repeatedly asking the Government of Nepal for bringing the perpetrators of human rights violence to justice. For example, Maina Sunwar was killed in the Birendra Peace Operations in central Nepal on February 17, 2004 because she had been the witness of the army men raping women. In September 2007, the Supreme Court of Nepal ruled that the Government should investigate the case, then, criminal charges were filed against four accused Nepal Army personnel at the court but so far the government has not enforced the arrest warrants issued by the court. Head of Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) Jyoti Sanghera has urged the Government of Nepal on February 16, 2011 to enforce the court order against the four accused army personnel.

You need to work for inclusive democracy and federalism. Nepal can hardly survive without institutionalizing a federal inclusive democratic republic. We have had the 30-year exclusive Panchayat democracy from 1960 to 1990; then, we have another democracy called parliamentary democracy from 1990 to 2005. Thereafter, we have the current political situation. Nepalis have been politically deeply conscious, so, none can politically survive without making Nepal a federal inclusive democratic republic. Inclusive democracy and federalism are the two important ingredients required for our nation to make room for all the people to work together and independently. Nepalis won’t let exclusive democracy prevail any more even though some political leaders have been dreaming to take the country back to such exclusive democracy in the name of the parliamentary democracy.

Don’t blame foreign power for anything, as it is the reality that foreign power and politicians for better or worse intervene in all countries even in the mighty super power country. So, don’t spend your time on bashing foreign power for your own faults and weakness. They might lure you to a major reward even cash rewards or threaten you to dislodge from the power but you should be strong enough to do your business following the rule of law in the interest of the people and the country then nobody will be able to shake you but if you are frightened by them then you will serve their interest going against the people’s interest as former Prime Minster Madhav Nepal has done then Nepalis will not forgive you at all. Sometimes, foreign interferences come as good advices and in the forms of economic assistance. You don’t have to take their advices if those advices are against the interest of the country and the people.

Concerning the foreign policy don’t try to please other countries perpetrating the human rights violation and making Nepal the passage for foreign criminals to go to another country for terrorist acts or any anti-government acts. For example, the Government of Nepal should not stop Tibetans residing in Nepal from holding their elections to a government in exile and from enjoying their rights to peacefully protest against the occupation of their country by China even though the Government of Nepal adopts the policy of one-China policy means Tibet and Taiwan are the integral parts of the People’s Republic of China. We need to protect human rights of all people if we are a democratic country and if we follow the universal laws of human rights. Foreign criminals have made Nepal a transit country to go to India and even to abroad. So, such kinds of activities you need to stop at any cost.

You should stand up against the possible political deadlock that the political leaders not willing to see the timely completion of the peace process and the writing of a new constitution will cause taking the parliamentary session hostage for the ransom of achieving their goals. The opposition parties might take the seven-point deal you have reached with the chairman of UCPN-Maoist to the streets. Some Madheshi groups also might help the opposition charging you with not accommodating their demands. However, you should go ahead with the majority votes in the parliament for passing any bills and the two-thirds majority at the Constituent Assembly for passing a new constitution. Civil society and media also except for those supporting the opposition that does not want the smooth transition of the current political situation into a regular democratic system might support you and your government.

February 17, 2011

My email address is siddhiranjit@gmail.com for anybody willing to contact me.