Machine-readable Passports And Sujata Koirala

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set the deadline to all its member nations for issuing Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) starting on April 01, 2010. As the member of this organization, Nepal needs to issue MRPs starting on April 01, 2010 otherwise Nepalis not holding passports issued by March 31, 2010 would not be able to travel abroad after April 01, 2010. However, Deputy Prime Minister holding the portfolio of foreign affairs Sujata Koirala has been in a fighting mood for printing MRPs in India rather than following the financial rules and regulations for printing MRPs and then issuing MRPs starting on April 01, 2010. She has left Kathmandu for Switzerland on February 27, 2010 to participate in the thirteenth session of Human Rights Council to be held in Geneva of Switzerland from March 1-3, 2010 leaving the issue concerning Nepalis the most behind.

Before leaving Kathmandu for Switzerland, speaking to the reporters at the Reporters’ Club, Madam Koirala has said that she is determined to print MRPs in India not following the instructions of the Public Account Committee (PAC). Speaking to the anchor of the morning program called ‘antar sambad’ of the state-run Radio Nepal on March 01, 2010, one of the members of the PAC incidentally belonging to the Nepali Congress (NC) of Madam Sujata Koirala’s party has said that the PAC has simply told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow the financial rules and regulations for printing MRPs and complete the process of the bid the Ministry has started for printing MRPs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received fourteen bids for printing MRPs and has short-listed four of those bidders for competitive bidding. So, the PAC has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the bidding process and award an order for printing MRPs to the most competent company.

Speaking to the reporters, Madam Koirala has questioned the authority of the PAC to instruct her ministry and alleged that the PAC is made up of a bunch of corrupt people in reaction to the PAC asking her to follow the rules and regulations for printing MRPs and do it transparently. Madam Koirala has said that the government has the authority to use its executive power to do its business not following the instructions of the PAC.

However, the member of the PAC speaking to the anchor of the Radio Nepal on March 01, 2010 has said that the PAC is a mini parliament and it has the representation of all political parties and has simply instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow the rules and regulations; if the concerned ministry does not follow the instructions and correct the irregularities in doing the state business then the administrative process would follow.

‘Following the administrative process’ might mean the irregularities in printing MRPs Madam Koirala is going to commit would be recorded in the administrative procedure; then the office of Auditor General would audit the account of the ministry and all administrative irregularities would show up in the Auditor General’s annual report and such irregularities come to the PAC for debate and decision. Then, the PAC has authority to punish the responsible person for committing irregularities in the management of printing MRPs in particular and other regular state businesses in general.

Madam Koirala has also publicly said that she is for firing Chief Secretary to the Council of Ministers Madhav Prasad Ghimire for not following her instructions twice to submit the proposal for printing MRPs in India to the Council of Ministers for making a decision on it. Most probably, Chief Secretary Ghimire knows the irregularities in printing MRPs he would commit if he follows the Madam Koirala’s instructions on submitting the proposal for printing MRPs to the Council of Ministers. Any experienced administrative officer knows s/he would risk her/his career in committing irregularities in the state business. However, other media reports have said that the Council of Ministers has rejected her proposal for printing MRPs in India.

Madam Koirala needs to publicly state why she has been so much interested in and determined to print MRPs in India. First, she might present the price benefits of printing MRPs in India. Second, she might present the technical superiority of printing MRPs in India if the prices of printing in India and abroad are the same. However, Madam Koirala has not put forward any such strong arguments to the Council of Minister and the PAC, too, except for insisting on printing MRPs in India giving the sense of fishy deal in the business of printing MRPs. Certainly, it must be a multi-million-dollar business, so the commission coming out of such business is tempting.

A delegation of the Joint Secretary to the Visa and Passport Division of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu on Sunday, February 28, 2010 for talks on MRPs has not showed up according to the Myrepublic.com news of March 01, 2010. Apparently, the visit of Indian Joint Secretary A Manickam was cancelled for the lack of the concrete decision of the Government of Nepal on this matter. Obviously, in absence of Madam Koirala, the Government of Nepal does not want to talk to the Indian delegation concerning the printing of MRPs.

Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Madan Kumar Bhattarai has met with Attorney General Prof Bharat Bahadur Karki at his office on March 1, 2010 seeking legal advice to procure machine-readable passports (MRPs) immediately not breaking the financial rules and regulations and making it possible to issue such passports starting on April 01, 2010 the deadline the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set for all its member states to issue MRPs.

Stating it would be impossible to meet the deadline set by the ICAO for issuing the MRPs following the bidding process for printing MRPs, and no alternative to giving the contract for printing MRPs to the Indian government-owned Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India to meet the deadline, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for permitting the printing of MRPs in India according to the nepalnews.com.

The Public Account Committee (PAC) has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow the financial rules and regulations for procuring MRPs; however, Deputy Prime Minister holding the portfolio of foreign affairs has cancelled the bids for printing MRPs in January 2010 and wants to print MRPs in India disregarding the financial rules and regulations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Passport Office has published a ‘very important notice’ in the state-run newspaper ‘Gorkhapatra’ in Nepali of February 24 and 25, 2010 as follow.

Following the provision made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), all member nations need to issue Machine Readable Passport (MRP) that has all the personal information starting on April 01, 2010, the Government of Nepal has been making preparation for it.

Concerning the hand-written regular passports that have been issued so far and the MRP, the government wants to make the following information known to the public:

1.    Hand-written regular passports will be issued until March 31, 2010.
2.    Hand-written regular passports issued until March 31, 2010 will be valid until November 24, 2015 for international travel.
3.    After November 24, 2015, all international travelers need to hold MRPs; so hand-written-regular-passport holders need to replace their regular passports with MRPs before that date.
4.    The government has made all efforts on issuing MRPs starting on April 01, 2010 following the deadline set by the ICAO but has not been able to do so because of the complicated procedures of issuing MRPs, and cannot issue MRPs as easily as the regular passports because of their security nature; currently, every district administration has been issuing regular passports but cannot issue MRPs as the regular passports; so, only the Central Passport Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue MRPs.
5.    The Central Passport Office will take eight to ten weeks for issuing MRPs after the receipt of applications.
6.    The notice of the fees required for issuing MRPs starting on April 01, 2010 and for replacing the regular passports with MRPs will be published after the Government of Nepal’s decision on it.

(Unofficial translation of the notice published in ‘Gorkhapatra’ of February 25, 2010)

After March 31, 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not going to issue passports as the ministry does not seem to be able to print MRPs because of Madam Koirala insisting on printing MRPs in India even not following the instructions of the PAC that has simply said to Madam Koirala to follow the regular financial rules and regulations to award an order for printing MRPs. The four companies short-listed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for printing MRPs are equally competent and they could print MRPs on time if the Ministry of Foreign affairs awards an order to print MRPs.

Madam Koirala has been enjoying the participation in the thirteenth session of Human Rights Council in Geneva of Switzerland from March 1-3, 2010 leaving the printing of MRPs concerning Nepalis the most behind.

Madam Koirala’s disregard for printing MRPs on time will be highly costly for Nepalis in general. Nepalis not having passports before April 01, 2010 would not be able to receive passports until Madam Koirala acts seriously on printing MRPs. So, many youths preparing for going to East Asia for work would not be able to receive passports. Similarly, students, businesspeople and people in general would not be able to travel abroad.

Her father Girija Prasad Koirala as an Interim Prime Minister of the period 2006-2008 had caused shortage of petroleum products in Nepal causing economic losses to the people possibly selling Nepal-bound cheap petroleum products in the Indian market for amassing huge wealth.

Current Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has increased the price of sugar to Rs 90 per kilogram from Rs 60 during the sugarcane-crushing season for making sugar-mill owners possible to sell sugar at the high price to the government as the government has the monopoly on buying and selling sugar in Nepal.

Nepalis in general would suffer from the conflict of interest of Madam Koirala and of Prime Minister Madhav Nepal in the business of printing MRPs. These guys rejected by voters are not accountable to the people and do not show any concern for the people’s trouble to be caused by the lack of MRPs on time. The President’s unconstitutional move on directly writing a letter to the then army chief has brought these guys to power so the President is also responsible for the sufferings of the people caused by not having MRPs on time.

March 6, 2010.