Oli-led Government-42

Oli-led Government-42: Tribute To Outgoing PM KP Oli

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Ultimately, Prime Minister KP Oli quit the office after many failed attempts on staying on in power using every possible option he has. This Constitution has saved Nepal from falling back to the political instability. Anybody like Oli would have destroyed every possible system if s/he has the five-year term. No matter what the political scientists and political leaders have been saying the current system is good or bad, the recent activities of Oli have demonstrated that the current political system is the best suitable for Nepal. Even then, Oli has attempted to distort the Constitution recommending the President to remove the hurdles that are not there.

Prime Minister Oli submitted his resignation to the President on July 24, 2016 before going to the parliament and delivering his speech defending his deeds and misdeeds done during his nine-month tenure. He could not paint any better picture of the country than the possible instability and tremendous misfortune to Nepal after he quit the office.

Oli has tried various options to stay on in the office deforming the Constitution but the Constitution has been so designed that it won’t allow anybody like Oli to stay on in power no matter what s/he tries. That is the result for Oli to quit office no matter what he has tried to remain in office.

Oli forced the parliament to discuss the three appropriation Bills in the parliament before discussing the no-confidence vote against him even though the no-confidence vote was to get the priority once it was submitted to the parliament. He probably was sure that once the three appropriation Bills would get passed then the door for him to stay on in power would be wide opened up but unfortunately for Oli, the parliament rejected the three appropriation Bills Oli’s finance minister had presented at the parliament. Then, Oli was sure that he had no means to stay on in power.

Oli had the advice of Chairman of NWPP Narayan Man Bijuckchhe for dissolving the parliament, and then for the Oli to call for new elections to a new parliament but Oli did not dare to buy the advice, as he knows that the Constitution has the provision for making the current parliament alive up until January 2018. Oli as the prime minister has the prerogative to dissolve the parliament but the constitutional provision for keeping the current parliament alive has denied him to do so. Also Oli knows that Bijuckchhe is an old bully. His bullying will not work, now.

First, Oli floated the rumors that the Constitution has no provision for forming a new government if he quits the office. He would be staying on in office for the period until the life of the current parliament ends in January 2018. That is a great dream of Oli to be almost a dictatorial but he could not dare to make his dream come true. He used all phony constitutional experts to promote his interpretation of the Constitution but the opposition did not show any concern for what Oli had been doing and saying.

Then, Oli proposed Prachanda and Deuba for amending the Constitution to make the provision for forming a new government after he quits the office. It is nothing but a political joke for Deuba and Prachanda. They outright rejected the proposal for the amendment to the Constitution. Oli did so to prove that his interpretation of the Constitution was correct, and to prove in fact, the Constitution has the flaw.

His Deputy and one-time comrade-in-arm engaged in the Jhapa movement CP Mainali had nothing but a dream to continue the Oli government by hook or crook. They found out how to remedy the hurdles to the constitutional flaw, which was not there in the Constitution. So, invoking the Article 305 of the Constitution, Oil decided to recommend the President for removing the hurdle to form a new government. In fact, he did so before quitting the office.

The President needs not honor any recommendation the minority government has decided as such a government lost the constitutional rights to do anything except for running the regular daily administration. Oli has lost the constitutional mandate to make any decision once the Maoist-center pulled out of the government. If Oli has been sincere to the parliamentary system and he has honored the Constitutional provisions he would have submitted his resignation to the President once he received the letter from the Chairman of the Maoist-center Prachanda stating his party no longer supported him, and he withdrew the ministers en mass from the Oli’s government leaving Oli in the minority but Oli did not do so because he wanted to linger in power by any possible means. He did not care that he had been in the minority. He continued to function as if he had the supreme mandate from the people.

If the President honors the recommendation made by the minority government then the parliament does not need to accept it. The Supreme Court of Nepal has already set the precedent of the minority government doing anything concrete concerning the Constitution would not be valid reinstating the parliament the minority government of the then Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari had dissolved in 1995. Prime Minister Oli has nostalgically reminded this government in his speech delivered to the parliament on July 24, 2016.

The minority government of Oli has bullied the Constitution making decisions as if it is still the full-fledged Council of Ministers even after the Maoist ministers have quit the office. Surely, any decision made by the minority government will not be valid and the succeeding government will not need to honor such decisions made by such a minority government.

Not strictly following the Constitution, the minority Prime Minister Oli has staged a sort of micro coup during the last few days of his premiership. What such a man would have done if he has the constitutional mandate for five years. He would do whatever he would like, and he would take the advice of the not genuine constitutional experts and he would continue his administration as long as he would like. This is a scenario somebody might not like but it might be the true one.

So, for stopping anybody like Oli staying on in power for an indefinite period, the current system is well designed. I have been saying that the current hybrid parliamentary system is not good for the political stability that is needed to make the economic development possible. However, the recent political event has proved that this system is the one that makes the dictatorial mindset effectively defunct.

The prerequisite of the political stability for the economic development is the false notion if we take into account the 250 years of the political stability that did nothing for the socio-economic development of the people but suppress every potential development of the nation because the rulers were despotic and they did not want the people live better.

Prachanda has said that the Article 298 of the current Constitution is the photocopy of the Interim Constitution of 2007; so it gives the right to form a new constitution as the Interim Constitution had done but Oli did not buy this truth but he continued his false notion of the Constitution had no provision for forming a new government after he quit.

Ultimately, Oli quit office even if he though he did not need to because he did not see any possibility of applying his dictatorial mindset using the current Constitution. He had demonstrated his mindset using every possibility of remaining in power but the current Constitution forced him out of the office.

Speaking at the parliament ostensibly for defending the unconstitutional activities of Oli, one of his lieutenants Subhas Nemwang told the parliament that he was very pleased that those Madheshi guys that promised not to follow the Constitution joined the parliament and took part in the parliamentary process. This is another way of expressing happiness at the Oli quitting the office.

Oli's departure is the most timely otherwise nobody knows what he will do with the support of all those that did not follow the constitutional mandate. For example, Kamal Thapa: deputy of Prime minister Oli did not attend the Republic Day celebration. That was the gross violence of the Constitution. Oli needed to fire Thapa then and there but he did not because Oli felt that Thapa was a good asset for him to stay on in power at the time of need. Kamal Thapa had vowed that he would stay with Oli until the last moment. Thapa did so not coming out of the Oli’s cabinet even though it has stopped functioning.

Chitra Bahadur KC: another deputy of Prime Minster Oli was deadly against the federalism. KC had been running from one place to another only to advocate against the federalism. KC had been clearly going against the Constitution but Oli did nothing to stop him from going against the Constitution.

Thus, Oli had done nothing to protect the Constitution but he had strongly acted to weaken it and finally he made recommendations to the President for removing the hurdles that did not exit in the Constitution. Oli did so to create the constitutional confusion but such a political mindset will not work in the environment created by the well-defined Constitution no matter what Oli and his bogus constitutional experts said and would say in the future.

Deuba said that all the agreements Oli had signed off would be strictly honored. Probably, he wanted to address the concern of China for the agreements China had reached with Oli, and he wanted to assure China of a new government would strictly follow the agreements Oli had reached with China.

Deuba’s assurance was surely not to Dr Govinda KC that had reached an agreement with the Oli’s last minute government. Whether the minority government of Oli that had no authority to reach any agreement with anybody would be valid or not remains to be seem. KC’s hunger strike is not less incomplete as of the last minute Oli government, as KC had been taking intravenous saline water, and breathing oxygen visible on the photos posted on the social media: facebook.  He could go on such a hunger strike for years without a break. Is it not a semi-hunger strike or even a fake hunger strike?

Ram Chandra Poudel went with his four-point proposal to defend Oli at the last moment and he sought to have his lost voices among the successful politicians but Deuba and Prachanda: the two key figures in the current power play brushed off the proposal. Then, Poudel went on saying in the parliament some leaders have monopolized the office of prime minister trying to be prime minister multiple times. Poor Poudel did not understand whether anybody would bring the office of prime minister on a platter for him to accept. He needed to fight for it. Surely, he did fight for it seventeen times but without success. At that time he did not think of the multiple-time attempts to win the election to a new prime minister was the waste of time when the voters were not willing to vote for him.

Chairman of the Federal Socialist Party Upendra Yadav said that all the rats had ran out of the Oli’s boat why he had been sticking to his sinking boat, according to the local online media. Certainly, Oli had lost everybody after his deputy Bijaya Gacchedar, and RPP ministers left his government. However, Oli shamelessly stuck in to the power for some time until the opposition in the parliament was determined to force him out of the power.

Oli became a quixotic believing that the Constitution has ensured him to be the prime minister of the country as long as the parliament exists. He simply ignored that the prime minister has to leave the office any time s/he loses the majority in the parliament following the parliamentary system but he did not want to accept this reality. He used all sorts of the fake constitutional experts to say Oli can stay on as long as the current parliament lives on.

Those bogus constitutional experts have shown Oli the constitutional hurdles that really do not exit in the Constitution. Oli accepted those hurdles because he was quixotic and he could not see the reality. Probably, he also must have believed the Trojan horse someone like Bijuckchhe put forward. However, he did not buy the notion of Trojan horse but he did see the foreign hands on displacing him.

Oli did not possess the art of running the administration, his last minute activities have amply demonstrated. His speech to the parliament is sarcastic and full of jokes. He could be a great comedian or a clown in a circus. He had demonstrated such ability many times during his tenure as a prime minister. He would be better off serving as a clown rather than a prime minister.

July 26, 2016