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Making Jumbo Cabinet In Nepal Is Not Auspicious
By KTM Metro Reporter
November 9, 2011: Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has set many records and he has done what other Prime Ministers could not do setting new records of his deeds. This time, Dr. Bhattarai has set the new record of the size of the Nepalese cabinet. Yesterday, he has appointed seven ministers and 19 ministers of state making his cabinet of 46 ministers, ‘gorkhapatra’ of today writes.
Here, Dr. Bhattarai’s austerity measure has gone astray. Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai riding the cheapest local-made vehicle and flying on the economy class do not make sense for the government austerity measure, as in one stroke he has increased his cabinet size so large whether the poor country like Nepal could bear the burden of the cost of providing so many ministers with offices, official residences, vehicles and fuel for the vehicles remains to be seen.
Dr. Bhattarai needs to provide his fellow ministers with 46 offices. He might not find it difficult to finding buildings for offices but certainly he would find it difficult to finding the budget for renting so many office buildings.
The next thing Dr. Bhattarai needs to provide so many ministers is the official residence for each of them. Surely, Kathmandu has many buildings good enough for lodging the newly appointed ministers but again the concern is a huge amount of the state budget required for funding to rent the buildings for the official accommodation required for so large number of ministers.
The third thing is Dr. Bhattarai needs to provide each minister with one sleek vehicle at least. None of the minister is going to ride the cheapest ‘Mustang’ vehicle, as Dr. Bhattarai has been doing. So, anybody could easily compute how much the state budget goes for purchasing vehicles for the newly appointed ministers.
Then, Dr. Bhattarai needs to provide each minister with at least a few hundred liters of fuel every day. Each liter of fuel costs more than one hundred rupees.
Dr. Bhattarai cannot ignore the budget required for hiring a number of drivers and a large number of security guards for so many ministers. However, Dr. Bhattarai could boast that it will create more jobs for the Nepalis. That is true.
With this jumbo cabinet, it is clear that Dr. Bhattarai has reach the peak of what he could do so far; now, he is riding the falling waves of his deeds. His political career must have reached the climax from where he would not be able to rise any higher.
The next record Dr. Bhattarai has broken is his cabinet has decided to recommend the president to grant amnesty to UCPN-Maoist lawmaker Balkrishna Dhungel convicted for a murder. Thus, Dr. Bhattarai has set another record of impunity in Nepal. Following the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal in 2010 for his alleged involvement in a murder, lawmaker Dhungel needs to serve a life imprisonment means a 20-year jail term in Nepal.
Yesterday, after forming a jumbo cabinet, Prime Minister Bhattarai left Kathmandu for Delhi on the way to Maldives to attend the 17th SAARC Summit. He is reaching Maldives via Colombo today only. This is another record Dr. Bhattarai has set taking two days to reach the Maldives islands.
With all the recent deeds of Dr. Bhattarai, some political analysts ask whether Dr. Bhattarai could morally continue as the head of the government. Dr. Bhattarai would be well off to quit the not-so-grateful job.
Following the tradition, Deputy Prime Minister Bijya Gacchedar and Speaker Subash Nemwang have seen off Dr. Bhattarai at the international airport in Kathmandu. These two guys are always at the airport to see off and receive Dr. Bhattarai whenever he is off for a foreign visit.
