Low spending of state-coffers deprives taxpayers of economic benefits

RUDRA PANGENI KATHMANDU, March 13:Taxpayers pay the government and it is expected to spend it in developing infrastructure, stimulate the economy, create jobs and provide services to the taxpayers directly or indirectly. Of course, some amount of inefficiency is expected from governments, what with every spending having to go through different levels of bureaucratic and procedural approval process. But the only ground that the Nepali government seems to be breaking is not roads, power plants or bridges, but how much of the budget remains unspent. The government has managed to spend just 13 percent or Rs 11 billion of the Rs 85 billion that it allocated for capital expenditures -- that is, spending directed at building, acquiring or upgrading infrastructures that have future benefits to the country -- in the first six months of the current fiscal year. This indicates that taxpayers are not benefiting and the economy is not in a dynamic position. Moreover, lack of economic activity in the public sector has also failed to nudge the private sector into spending more. As a result overall economic activity is crawling, which in turn affects job creation and earnings, and then stifles consumption. With less money circling through the economy, money collected through taxes fails to provide the common people with much economic benefit. The government’s periodic plan documents say that for every rupee of capital spending by the government, the private sector invests Rs 2. Provided low capital expenditure in the first half of the year, economists are doubtful that the economy will achieve the target of 5.5 percent growth. This year’s budget broke precedence from those of the past three ones when it was announced in full and on time, and the government at the time was much lauded. Things will finally get done, economists, the private sector and the general public alike said. But the rising waves of optimism that it created hit the inevitable submerged barriers and giant walls to finally ebb and become trickles flowing through puddles across the many pockmarked and unfinished road projects in the capital and the country. In addition to the number of usual suspects behind poor implementation, the election for the Constituent Assembly sapped up government employees’ time and attention when many were redeployed for about a month and half to conduct the election. Economist Posh Raj Pandey pinpoints structural problems as the major issue behind the delay in the approval of programs and the lengthy procurement processes behind the failure to spend the resources stagnating inside the state coffers. “Statistics say that 60 percent of the government’s actual expenditure happens in the last three months of the fiscal year due to time that programs take to complete the budget approval and contract processes,” Pandey adds. Economist Bishwambher Pyakuryal said the government’s way of spending in a short term makes the eventual work of poor quality and the expected developmental benefits are lost while the state has to spend again for the same work. An excerpt of the mid-term review report on budget says, “Budget implementation is stuck to the process and procedures, some projects have not yet started. There is no harmonization between available resources and their utilization.” Add to the pressing and recurrent problems like failure in land acquisition, red tape, local problems, and lack of time-bound action plans of projects. “Many projects, including transmission line, road and irrigation projects have come across a seemingly common problem of land acquisition in the absence of a strong and timely law to deal with the issue,” adds Nirmal Hari Adhikari, the undersecretary at the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance (MoF). An outdated Land Acquisition Act of 1977 still prevails. Locals demand high prices for the land and the state authority ends up not being able to purchase land as the provision allows for paying of the lowest market price or having to negotiate long and hard to acquire the land. Speaking at a conference on ‘Government’s mega projects’ at MoF last week, Arjun Kumar Karki, the managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority, said the people of Kathmandu would have to live in the dark even when power plants around the country managed to generate enough energy because of failure to acquire land to install transmission lines. Likewise, political instability, according to high-level officials at MoF, is also behind the slow progress in spending as bureaucrats remain busy trying to draw the attention of political leaders and winning favor instead of doing their designated job. On the topic of low expenditure, newly appointed Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat stresses that a proper method is needed for budget preparation and prioritizing for better spending. "Budget was allocated for many projects without needful preparations and homework having been done. That was the main reason behind the low spending,” Mahat said, adding that the there is a dearth in resources in some projects whereas others have occupied the budget. He expressed dissatisfaction over allotment of budget before preparing programs and described the prioritizing of projects as baseless and without any parameters. Nineteen national-pride projects also paint a bleak picture in terms of their expenditure status. The mid-term review says, “The projects have only occupied the resources as the implementation is almost ineffective.” BUDGET PREPARATION  The past experience says that a well-prepared budget can lead to better implementation, but officials at MoF lament that budget preparation by ministries is taken for granted. An official at MoF, asking not to be named, said ministry officials are not serious and they merely count the amount in the budget and forward the program without enough preparation. Moreover, a recent heavy demand for non-budgetary programs and projects by ministries shows that they have paid little attention to implementing their budgets. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, ministries asked MoF for over Rs 10 billion to spend on fresh programs and projects, almost equal to amount of capital expenditure they have been able to spend over the period. WAY FORWARD  There is a common view that there is urgency for fresh policy, laws, and a working modality for improving capital expenditure. There is a need for an overhaul of the procurement law and for other necessary provisions to shorten processes that programs have to pass through before implementation as well as effective expenditure monitoring. Economist Pyakuryal says that there must be varying provisions for contracts depending on the types of projects, amount and programs instead of the existing blanket approach. “The laws no longer should be about awarding to the lowest bidder regardless of the contractors’ track record and any compromise in quality of the work should be clearly defined as corruption,” Pyakurel adds. The mid-term report recommended bringing a ‘project implementation law’ to solve several problems in implementing projects, including making implementation officials and the people accountable. It is essential to prepare time-bound plans for a project along with cost-effective and quality assurance measures. Undersecretary Adhikari stressed the need for projects to have an specific annual work plans which prioritize activities in the field-level. The report also said that there must be result-oriented work performance review system for project chief and staff as well as setting of dates of completion. REPUBLICA

To be or not to be: The question of fuel subsidy divides opinions

RUDRA PANGENI 
KATHMANDU, March 20, 2014 : While everyone seems to agree that providing subsidy on fuel puts a big burden on the government, the question of whether to continue with it or of how to lessen the weight while not hurting the poor and the marginalized remains divisive.

In the last decade and half, this has set a trend. The government hikes petroleum prices triggering protests from the opposition parties who disrupt the parliament and then their respective student unions and youth wings hit the streets and burn and smash property. 

Last Friday’s decision on the price hike has done the same. Students demonstrated, banda was called on Wednesday in the capital, and parliament disrupted by the opposition for a third consecutive day on Thursday before the government finally relented to mounting pressure for a roll back. 

Protestors say that it will not only send public transportation fares up but also have a cascading effect on consumer products which will affect the lower strata of population as well as the lower middle class. 

As usual, the government has a different take on it. Again, the government says it is costly to subsidize petroleum by cutting the development budget while the cost of imported fuel has increased due to increase in the price of crude oil in the international market and exchange-rate fluctuation. 

According to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), its total monthly losses stand at Rs 1.22 billion because of subsidy in different products even after the price hike.

The monthly losses were Rs 1.69 billion prior to Friday’s hike. The country imports petroleum products worth Rs 107 billion annually, which is more than Nepal’s exports put together. 

Speaking at an event on Saturday, Minister for Finance Ram Sharan Mahat said NOC should be free to decide the price of petroleum products in accordance to the changes in the international market.

BLANKET SUBSIDY
OR a TARGETED one

Petroleum products like Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and diesel have become essential commodities. 

However, the government’s policies are yet to define essentials and non-essentials, therefore prices are increased without considering the effect on the lives of the common people.

Talking to Republica, former Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha said there must be a selective approach that targets for whom to subsidize and on which products. 

“As many South Asian countries, including India, have subsidized basic fuel, Nepal too should subsidize LPG and diesel as they are essentials,” Ojha said.

Former Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal, who is now a leader in Nepali Congress, has been strongly against subsidizing imported fuel. “Subsidy in petroleum only benefits the urban population but the government pays that by cutting the development budget meant for the rural population who can never hit the streets of the capital,” 

Khanal says, adding that the idea of subsidizing imported products is not a wise move as it only benefits petroleum exporters. Khanal further says, “It would be wiser to provide free electricity to the people instead of subsidizing imported fuel as electricity is domestically produced.” 

TAX ON PETROLEUM:
A PRESSING FACTOR IN PRICE HIKES 

The government levies 13 percent VAT on all petroleum products except kerosene and nominal customs duty on all products. Revenue is also one of the major issues that put pressure for price increments. The amount of revenue collected from NOC increased to Rs 25 billion from Rs 8 billion in the last five years.

Former Commerce Secretary Ojha says that the government can specify the amount in revenue on petroleum instead of percentage to keep control on prices, which has shown an upward trend. 

Himal Sharma, a student leader aligned to UCPN (Maoist), says the government should waive taxes on essential commodities like LPG and diesel. “LPG is already listed in essential goods, diesel should be made free from taxes as the price is directly related to transportation fares and indirectly to the price of all consumer goods,” Sharma adds. 
However, former Finance Secretary Khanal says waiving revenue would be a suicidal approach as it would cut the budget for development works. 

“A huge amount of tax must be levied on petroleum products for collecting money for hydropower development, which is the best option for us to wean away from our dependency on petroleum.”

CROSS-SUBSIDY 
Since March 9, the government has implemented a dual-pricing system for LPG by ordering the use of separately colored cylinders for commercial and household use in a bid to subsidize LPG only for households. 

However the process of making commercial entities pay full price for LPG is yet to be implemented. Subsidy for LPG is Rs 864 per cylinder. 1.5 million LPG cylinders are consumed monthly. 

Ojha says that the cross-subsidy policy in LPG will be a strategic move to downsize the burden of subsidy. 

SEVERAL STUDIES, BUT NO IMPLEMENTATION 

As many as five high-level committees, led by Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Shankar Sharma, Yubaraj Khatiwada, Bhanu Prasad Acharya and Bhim Acharya, have investigated the fuel economy of the country to find a way to solve the problem. However, the study reports are gathering dust at NOC. 

The reports suggested bringing the private sector into the petroleum import business, taking measures to downsize the per-unit cost, and subsidizing kerosene and LPG only for a targeted poor section of the people.

Some steps were taken to implement these study reports, but without success. 
A bill was tabled at the parliament for opening up the petroleum supply business to the private sector in 2008, but it could not make it through.

WAY FORWARD 
Experts suggest that it is high time we expedited hydropower development, which can be the right move to downsize dependency on imported fossil fuel. 

They say that an ample supply of electricity can at least cut down consumption of the LPG and diesel used by factories and other commercial entities to power up their electricity generators.

Data show that LPG and diesel used for generators add up to make about half of the total petroleum consumption in the country.

Besides, it is said that a better road infrastructure can save travel time and, more importantly, increase fuel efficiency. 

Khanal suggests opting for alternative sources including expediting investment in hydropower. “We can generate hydropower of 5,000 MW within six years,” he says.
REPUBLICA 

Nepal's energy future: Too much when it rains, too little rest of the time

	Nepal's energy future: Too much when it rains, too little rest of the time
	RUDRA PANGENI KATHMANDU, March 6: It might be kind of hard to believe that in about four years’ time Nepal will go from round-the-year power cuts to days when Nepal Electricity Authority’s (NEA’s) big problem will too much energy. But that will definitely be the case as NEA projections show that power plants around the country will generate so much electricity when planned and under-construction projects come online between mid-2017 and 2019 that NEA has already started trying to come up with plans on how to deal with the surplus. In fact, according to NEA estimates, Nepal is going to have so much extra electricity supply -- for about 20 hours a day during the rainy season Nepal will generate about 1,000 MW more energy than it can use – that NEA is right now thinking about putting the signing of new deals to buy energy on hold until it can figure a way out. But no one is popping open the champagne and looking forward to days very near in the future when people in Nepal will no longer have to plan their daily schedules around the latest load-shedding routine. As always there is a big but (catch). Nepal will have an energy surplus headache during the rainy season, but that’s it – only during the rainy season. The rest of the year the not-even-close-to-enough energy situation will persist. So much so that during the ‘dry months’, NEA expects Nepal to generate only fourth of the energy it needs. Currently, load-shedding stands at 84 hours per week. While it is less during other seasons, power cut is still round-the-year. In the last few years, the pace of new power generation projects has gone up and NEA has so far signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with about 120 projects with peak-generation capacity of about 2,000 MW which means that there will be surplus energy during the off-peak hours of the rainy season after July 2017. This has caused NEA officials to rethink signing new agreements with power developers fearing that energy will go wasted and NEA will incur huge losses. The last time the country had an energy surplus was when the Kaligandaki hydropower project completed in 2002. But that was only for a short time. NEA statistics say that figures of supply and demand will meet at a point in July 2017 after the connection of the 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project (UTHP) to the national grid and the country will enter a new phase of surplus energy when it rains heavily. Add to that the other projects, like the Mid-Bhotekoshi (102 MW) and Rasuwagadhi (111 MW) coming into connection soon after UTHP, and Nepal will reach the day when ‘dump energy’ will reach about 1,000 MW for about 20 hours, or 20 million units, every day during the rainy season by Fiscal Year 2018 /19. Talking to Republica, NEA Spokesperson Sher Singh Bhat put the market price of the dump energy at around Rs 150 million per day. However during the dry months, power houses will only generate one-fourth of the energy when peak demand is forecast to hit 1,906 MW. "The demand forecast figures and the already signed PPAs do not allow us to sign any more PPAs with the run-of-the-river (RoR) projects until there is a reliable market and marketability of the energy to sell the surplus," Bhat says, adding that it would be costly if NEA were to decide to purchase power thereafter. The seasonal imbalance of energy generation owes a lot to the fact that the planned and under-construction projects are only run-of-the-river types, which run in full capacity during the rainy season but comes down to a trickle the rest of the year. If NEA fails to find a market for the surplus energy, some 200 projects, with a total capacity of 10,300 MW, which are under different phase of study will suffer and new energy development work will come almost to standstill. NEA´s rethinking of new PPAs will also affect the promises of political parties in their election manifestos to generate 5,000 MW of energy in the next three to five years to bail the country out of its energy crisis. Their declarations lacked a time-framed electricity generation plan. It is high time to have a comprehensive plan for producing energy that focuses on reservoir plants for balanced energy production. RESERVOIR PROJECTS Only reservoir hydropower projects can bring changes to the current imbalance but there aren’t any such projects likely to be constructed, at least not before 2020. Keshav Dhwaj Adhikari, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, has pointed out that the current problem is a result of over two decades of bad or non-existent planning. "The current energy crisis is because the government kept on just expecting something from the private sector and did nothing after the 1990s." Successive governments took a backseat in energy production and expected the private sector to generate the needed energy after opening the doors to them in the 1990s. The immature private sector never chose to develop reservoir projects as they are comparatively expensive compared to RoR projects. Adhikari is of the view that the crisis won´t be resolved until the government itself makes reservoir projects on its own. The government has initiated plan for Tanahu, Nalisinggadh (400 MW) and Budhigandaki (600 MW) hydro projects. But they are not likely to come online before 2022 even if things go as planned. Speaking at the Nepal Economic Summit on last week, NEA Managing Director Arjun Kumar Karki said the load-shedding can not be eliminated even after those reservoir projects are done. With an assessment of importance of dry energy in the future, NEA has invited applications from export-oriented projects offering Rs 10.60 per unit for dry energy (from December to April) after 2020. But only five projects have applied so far. The current rate stands at Rs 8.40 for dry months and Rs 4.80 for wet energy. ENERGY TRADE WITH INDIA The leadership in the government and NEA put emphasis on the planning of importing energy to meet the demand or at least downsize the current energy cuts. The ideal way would be a Power Trade Agreement (PTA) with India to export the surplus energy during the wet season and import from them during dry months. The Nepali government put forward a proposal on signing a Memorandum of Understanding for a PTA with India in June 2010. However, India has not responded to the proposal yet. Delegates and leaders of India often reiterate that Nepal is rich in water resources and can earn by selling hydropower, but their reiteration has never been translated into reality. “The Indian side has always remained silent on our MoU proposal for years though they often repeat the same thing that the process is on and they are thinking about it,” Adhikari, the energy ministry spokesperson, says. It seems that the country will be waiting for the PTA for a long long time. The President of Independent Power Producers Association Nepal Khadga Bahadur Bisht says that no one has the answer on how to address the energy development imbalance. NEA, the government and the private sector should work hand-in-hand to find the solution, including the PTA with India, to address the current problem of seasonal imbalance and finding a market to sell energy. However, they are yet to develop a cross-border transmission line to exchange any energy. It has been years since the Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar transmission line was initiated, but little progress has been made. ALTERNATIVE MARKET FOR DUMP ENERGY It would be wise to look for a domestic market to utilize the ‘dump power’ to save the country’s state-run power monopolist from huge losses and make it favorable for the private sector to continue electricity generation by signing PPAs with them. Adhikari suggests encouraging any type of industry that can use the dump energy. Likewise, Bisht is of the view that the country can have cold stores that consume wet energy as well as tariff differences by season to increase the consumption of dump energy.

Wild berries work wonders for Jharkot women

RUDRA PANGENI

JOMSOM, Dec 6 : Sea-buckthorn berries - locally known as Tora fruits - were not of much use for local women of Jharkot in Mustang district until 2008. Though they used to collect berries to produce massage oil, they were not aware of the benefits that the wild fruit could bring to them. 

But things changed when the local Gurung and Thakuri women underwent a training to prepare squash from sea-buckthorn berries that were going to waste. Today, the squash prepared from sea-buckthorn berries is supplied to department stores in capital and other urban centers. 

Sri Muktinath Tora Juice Udyog, which is operated by Muktinath Cooperatives, produced squash from sea-buckthorn berries, and supplies the product to market in different parts of the country. The product is retailed at Rs 160 per bottle (500 ml).

The cooperative has 58 women - all of whom are women.
Sea-buckthorn berries grow at an altitude of 3,500 meters or above and are believed to be rich in Vitamin C.

“The fruit has empowered us; we no longer depend on our husbands,” Maya Gurung, secretary of Muktinath Cooperatives, said. “Also, we are not limited to household chores.”
The cooperatives sold squash worth Rs 4.48 million this year. Bhat-bhateni Department Stores is among the leading buyers of the sea-buckthorn squash, according to the cooperatives.

Sri Muktinath Tora Juice Udyog currently employs 11 executive members of the cooperatives including Gurung. They pocket salary of Rs 2,500 per month. All 58 members of the cooperative collect wild berries from nearby forest and sell them to the factory. They get Rs 150 for a kilogram of berries. 
Harvest of sea-buckthorn berries start form mid-August.

“All our members get equal benefit,” said Gurung. Twelve liters of juice can be made by processing 15 kg of fresh berries. Local women prepare 200 bottles of squash by using 28 liters of sea-buckthorn juice, sugar and other ingredients.

Food technologist Prof Bhismananda Baidya provided consultant services to the local women in the squash preparation process.
Amar Bahadur Shah, chief of High Mountain Agribusiness and Livelihood Improvement (HIMALI) Project said Baidya played a key role in developing entrepreneurship among local women by encouraging them to undergo squash preparation training some five years ago.

The HIMALI project, which is funded by Asian Development Bank, is providing Muktinath Cooperatives a grant of Rs 4.2 million to purchase bottle blower machine, build a house for the industry, and arrange irrigation for berry bushes with sprinklers and pipes.

“The local women are good at team work. They are united and very much transparent in financial matters,” said Shah. Gurung said that they have targeted to produce 500,000 bottles of the squash worth Rs 20 million within the next five years. 

“We have also urged HIMALI to provide gas operated stoves to boil fresh juice so that we can reduce the use of firewood and be environment friendly,” Gurung told Republica.

Genevieve Cahill, agribusiness capacity development specialist of HIMALI, said local women can earn more amount of money by producing oil from sea-buckthorn seeds. “The oil is used in production of cosmetics. It costs Rs 20,000 per liter in the international market,” she added.

my choice

An article matters. It made me nearly a celebrity!

by  Rudra Pangeni

I wrote article 'The next PM' and published on Wednesday, 13, Nov, 2013, I started to get feedbacks from different sections, from my close friends, acquaintances, my colleagues in the office. For the person who rarely dips pen for opinion, writing opinion turned out to be a different experience for me. My news items may have flared wide range opinions, in some cases, I have met some people using the information of my news and making opinions, putting their views based on that. But this time my opinion itself drew much compliments, Mahavir Paudyal and Biswas Baral, the guys handling editorial pages complimented my opinions. I am really encouraged. I got a phone call from a friend Chiranjivi Baral, whom I met at The Himalayan Times, he was at the news desk, who was not in touch for long. I thought the article made cotacts. Dinesh Thapa, my close friend sent an SMS 'excellent piece' immediate after reading the newspaper in the morning.

Next day, my weekly off day, I became ready to listen a youth, in my loitering evening, the youth said, "You are the same guy having published an article at Republica daily." I wanted to be more hospitable and enquired about him, I became quite naïve forgot to ask his name, perhaps I may not know him as he hesitantly removed the mask he was wearing and again fit into his nose and mouth. He seemed not interested to tell me except, he lives nearby and a student at Koteshwor this much.

Though, this is not the first opinion piece I had written, but the photo printed along with article made a different. This is my first opinion article in Republica, where I joined some five months ago. The article made me a celebrity!  

Though I posted my article in facebook twice and once on twitter, I did not get any feedback except a retweet by Saroj Kafle in twenty four hours. Thanks to all my readers. One more friend Ashish Gajurel came in online to congrat me during my office hours.

By 2 pm the article was at the hightest hit list with 317 hits in the online edition.

The NEXT PM, a voters manifesto

RUDRA PANGENI

In India, the world’s largest democracy, Congress (I) and Bharatiya Janata Party have put forth Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi respectively as their PM candidates for the general election to be held next year. Gandhi is the son of Congress (I) chair Sonia Gandhi, and Modi has a proven record of accomplishment, having been a successful chief minister of Gujarat.

The question is: Why do political parties here in Nepal hesitate to project candidates for the post of Prime Minister in parliamentary elections?


Republica

It is obvious that the fresh constituent Assembly election is more important for political parties in terms of power gain rather than constitution promulgation. In the political parties’ ongoing door to door campaign for votes, even voters gave little priority to statute writing, expressing their expectations of development and good governance instead.

Though we are going into a CA election, general people have little or no interest in forms of governance, federal structure, and delineation of federal units. Their concern is development, economic prosperity and stability.

Nepalis have voted in five parliamentary elections in 33 years of democratic practice since 1951. It’s unfortunate that they have been deprived of full-term governments in the long history of parliamentary practice. One of the major reasons for this is the practice of political parties not picking a leader beforehand, who will execute the commitments and pledges made before the election.

A projection of leadership can make more difference than mere commitments and pledges without a person to translate the same into action. But our political parties are hesitant to do so. Announcing a candidate for the next PM is sure to breed a culture of transparency. Our history is proof that a leader at Singhadurbar is more relevant to overall national progress than any particular leader voted in from a constituency. Our country needs a statesman to bail it out from protracted uncertainties and to meet peoples’ expectations for progress.

During the democratic practice in the country, people have felt a dearth of political stability, which is directly related to any particular party gaining a clear majority in the elections. This time, political cadres and leaders are busy trying to woo people for a clear majority, but people are not given any real statesman figure who can change their lives. It seems the parties are not confident enough about their leaders, which is the reason they have maintained their silence in this regard.

For the upcoming election, UCPN (Maoist) has placed a glamorous photo of Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on the back cover of a 53-page political manifesto, labeling him ‘leader of nation’. However, there is no clear statement on whether he is the party’s candidate for would-be PM. Other parties are completely silent in this regard.
Parties display double standards here. They do not declare their party’s prime ministerial candidate when they can, and later participate in shameful blame-game about foreign interference in choosing a PM. A prime ministerial candidate from each party can easily avert such foreign intervention.

Why don’t our parties consider choosing a leader to run the government? The disappointing revelation comes to fore that they are merely a loose alliance of political people, not an institution of unity and firm structure. Intra-party rifts and factionalism are common features of almost all parties.

Some major party leaders are of the view that it’s hard to project a single candidate with consensus. They agree that it has given aliens the opportunity to fish in murky waters.
In Nepal, it is an open secret that foreign intervention is a powerful kingmaker. If the parties announce their prime ministerial candidate, thereby allowing the people to directly cast a vote for the prime minister, the game of king-making would come to an end.

The tricky game of choosing a PM was in full swing after the first CA election. Influential forces were hesitant to hand over the post of the country’s executive head to the Maoist party, even though it had gained the biggest bloc of votes in the parliament. As a result, it took over three months for Pushpa Kamal Dahal to be the head of the government. To discourage the practice, which was repeated several times, parties should soul-search to find a candidate for prime minister before the election itself.

A declared candidate will directly go to Singhadurbar to lead the government, and CA members won’t have to linger on government formation. The CA hall will instead reverberate with the much-needed discussion on constitution drafting. It will ensure that there will be no malpractices of the kind evident in the first CA, and four-party meetings won’t shadow the performance of CA hall.

Otherwise, the fresh CA election may be no difference than the first one that gave birth to four prime ministers during its four year term, wasting much time and energy on changing governments.

In the history of Nepal, there is only one instance of the declaration of would-be PM before the election, and he too became a victim of foul play. In the general election of 1999, erstwhile President of Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala projected the party’s founding member Krishna Prashad Bhattarai as a PM candidate. The party gained a clear majority in the election. Bhattarai became the prime minister, but Koirala himself acted to remove Bhattarai from the government less than a year later. Koirala’s move also resulted in a party spilt.

In Nepal, elections are not primary, the appointment of the PM takes a place of importance, and often renders people’s votes secondary. The parties must project their prime ministerial candidates to make the people’s votes primary, institutionalize democracy, and discourage foreign interference.

The author is a
correspondent at Republica’s Business Bureau

rudra.pangeni@gmail.com
@ http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=64445