Parties Keep Repeating Mistakes
Yuba Nath Lamsal
Habits die hard’ goes the maxim. This is particularly applicable to our political parties that never seem to learn any lessons from history and their past mistakes. It is said that history repeats itself. Our leaders are short sighted and have such bad memory that they forget events and mistakes quickly to allow history to repeat itself.
This has been a common and chronic problem in present day Nepal. All the political parties are to blame for this. Now is the time when the political parties need to develop a common understanding and work in a collective and cooperative way so that the political mission with which the country has been moving ahead can be achieved and accomplished. Given the lackluster performance of the parties and their partisan agenda and arrogant attitude, consensus and cooperation among the parties appear to be almost impossible at this point of time.
Elusive consensus
The spirit of the interim constitution, which is the fundamental law of the land, clearly requires consensus politics and cooperation among the parties. The ground reality of Nepal’s present politics and power equation, too, needs consensus and cooperation. If the historic job is to be accomplished in time, cooperation among the parties is a must. The parties also talk loud of the need for consensus and compromise, but their actions have never matched their rhetoric. As a result, consensus appears to be elusive.
Nepal is passing through a difficult period. The law and order is at its lowest ebb. The feeling of insecurity has haunted every Nepali citizen. The problem is more acute in several Terai districts, some mountainous districts of eastern Nepal and urban centres including the Kathmandu Valley. Cases of threat, extortion, robbery and even killing have become a daily phenomenon. The law enforcement agencies are weak and ineffective in curbing violence and criminal activities. As the government is weak and ineffective, people often resort to strikes and closures to make their voices heard and press for their demands.
The condition of the people is getting further complicated due to the unbridled price hike of essential commodities. The purchasing power of the Nepali currency is declining. Unemployment is pervasive, and a large number of energetic Nepalese are leaving for the Gulf countries in search of employment opportunities.
The recent uprising and turmoil in some countries of the Middle East and North Africa have directly affected the Nepali workers abroad, and they are returning home for fear of being caught in the cross fire. If the turmoil in the Gulf and North African continues for long, Nepal would also be a victim.
The country is currently facing 16 hours of power outages daily. In the absence of regular power supply, several industries face closure. At times, the black marketers and hoarders create artificial shortage of daily essentials and services, taking advantage of the poor law and order and the country’s transitional period. As a result, the life of the people is getting unbearable as their income is hardly sufficient to survive and support their family.
The UN human development report has put Nepal at the lowest rank in South Asia in terms of economic, social and human resource development. If the present trend continues, the country is likely to witness further decline in its economic viability.
On the political front, the scenario is even more bleak. The country is now in the process of writing a new constitution as an important part of the ongoing peace process. The peace process began with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Treaty between the government and the Maoist party that had been fighting a guerilla war to establish a communist state. With the signing of the treaty, the Maoists gave up the armed insurgency and entered peaceful politics. This was a great achievement for the country and the people as this historic event provided a sense of optimism for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Nepal.
However, things did not move ahead as expected even after the signing of the peace treaty. The Constituent Assembly election, which was an important part of the peace process, was held after being postponed twice. Even after the Constituent Assembly election that put the Maoists as the largest party, there has not been much optimism and enthusiasm. The hung Constituent Assembly has invited more instability as we are seeing change in the government every now and then.
The parties failed to write the new constitution in two years - the period the interim constitution had provided for the lawmakers to complete the job. So the parties amended the interim constitution and extended the life of the Constituent Assembly by one more year. Even after that, the progress has been slow. This shows that the constitution may not be written even within the extended period. This shows that the parties are more interested in power, position and perks rather than their job and problems of the country.
It must be remembered that the people had almost lost their trust in the parties in the past. The activities of the political parties in the 13 years after the 1990 political change made the people apathetic to politics as the parties were focussed more on partisan and personal gains than on the problems of the people. It can be substantiated by the poor show in the protest of the political parties when then King Gyanendra took over power and imposed his direct rule. It was only after the leaders publicly apologised and expressed commitment not to repeat past mistakes that the people came overwhelmingly to the streets that toppled the king’s regime.
After the success of Jana Andolan II, people had expected the parties to change their behaviour. But the people’s expectations were soon dashed as the parties and leaders again got bogged down in dirty power politics instead of engaging in politics to empower the people. This power game took an uglier turn after the Constituent Assembly election. The government could not be formed for more than four months after the results of the election were announced. Open chasm and sharp division appeared during the election of the president and vice president. The parties were polarized into the Congress-led alliance and the Maoist-led front.
In the election for the president and vice president, the Maoists were defeated. This sowed the seed of mistrust among the parties and consensus politics. The interim constitution did not have any provision for ruling and opposition benches so as to ensure that there would be consensus politics and cooperation among the parties. But constitution was amended, and this provision was inserted at the insistence of the Nepali Congress.
As the largest party in the CA, the Maoists had the legitimate right to lead the government. But efforts were made not to allow the Maoists to form the government. Only after much ruckus were the Maoists able to do so. Although a Maoist-led coalition government was formed, serious efforts were made to pull down this government right from the beginning.
At the same time, the Maoists were also not able to understand the feelings and concerns of the coalition partners and carry them along. There had already been some serious differences among the coalition partners on several issues, and those differences broke out openly when the issue of removing the army chief came to the fore. This broke the coalition and the Prachanda-led government collapsed.
As a result the new government headed by UML leader Madhav Nepal was formed. This government, too, collapsed in one year which gave rise to uncertainty for seven months as a new government could not be formed. Now another government headed by CPN-UML chairperson Jhalanath Khanal is in place. But this government, too, has been facing similar problems faced by the earlier government.
All parties to blame
The politics of unity and consensus has been broken. The breach of consensus politics is a breach of the spirit of the interim constitution. The spirit of the interim constitution is to settle all issues through consensus among the major political parties. In the breach of this constitutional provision, all the political parties are responsible. The Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, UCPN-Maoist and Madhesi parties are to be blamed for the violation of the constitution.
Time is running short, but the parties can still correct their mistakes and again work together as per the constitutional provision at least until the new constitution is promulgated and the ongoing peace process is successfully concluded.
Habits die hard’ goes the maxim. This is particularly applicable to our political parties that never seem to learn any lessons from history and their past mistakes. It is said that history repeats itself. Our leaders are short sighted and have such bad memory that they forget events and mistakes quickly to allow history to repeat itself.
This has been a common and chronic problem in present day Nepal. All the political parties are to blame for this. Now is the time when the political parties need to develop a common understanding and work in a collective and cooperative way so that the political mission with which the country has been moving ahead can be achieved and accomplished. Given the lackluster performance of the parties and their partisan agenda and arrogant attitude, consensus and cooperation among the parties appear to be almost impossible at this point of time.
Elusive consensus
The spirit of the interim constitution, which is the fundamental law of the land, clearly requires consensus politics and cooperation among the parties. The ground reality of Nepal’s present politics and power equation, too, needs consensus and cooperation. If the historic job is to be accomplished in time, cooperation among the parties is a must. The parties also talk loud of the need for consensus and compromise, but their actions have never matched their rhetoric. As a result, consensus appears to be elusive.
Nepal is passing through a difficult period. The law and order is at its lowest ebb. The feeling of insecurity has haunted every Nepali citizen. The problem is more acute in several Terai districts, some mountainous districts of eastern Nepal and urban centres including the Kathmandu Valley. Cases of threat, extortion, robbery and even killing have become a daily phenomenon. The law enforcement agencies are weak and ineffective in curbing violence and criminal activities. As the government is weak and ineffective, people often resort to strikes and closures to make their voices heard and press for their demands.
The condition of the people is getting further complicated due to the unbridled price hike of essential commodities. The purchasing power of the Nepali currency is declining. Unemployment is pervasive, and a large number of energetic Nepalese are leaving for the Gulf countries in search of employment opportunities.
The recent uprising and turmoil in some countries of the Middle East and North Africa have directly affected the Nepali workers abroad, and they are returning home for fear of being caught in the cross fire. If the turmoil in the Gulf and North African continues for long, Nepal would also be a victim.
The country is currently facing 16 hours of power outages daily. In the absence of regular power supply, several industries face closure. At times, the black marketers and hoarders create artificial shortage of daily essentials and services, taking advantage of the poor law and order and the country’s transitional period. As a result, the life of the people is getting unbearable as their income is hardly sufficient to survive and support their family.
The UN human development report has put Nepal at the lowest rank in South Asia in terms of economic, social and human resource development. If the present trend continues, the country is likely to witness further decline in its economic viability.
On the political front, the scenario is even more bleak. The country is now in the process of writing a new constitution as an important part of the ongoing peace process. The peace process began with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Treaty between the government and the Maoist party that had been fighting a guerilla war to establish a communist state. With the signing of the treaty, the Maoists gave up the armed insurgency and entered peaceful politics. This was a great achievement for the country and the people as this historic event provided a sense of optimism for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Nepal.
However, things did not move ahead as expected even after the signing of the peace treaty. The Constituent Assembly election, which was an important part of the peace process, was held after being postponed twice. Even after the Constituent Assembly election that put the Maoists as the largest party, there has not been much optimism and enthusiasm. The hung Constituent Assembly has invited more instability as we are seeing change in the government every now and then.
The parties failed to write the new constitution in two years - the period the interim constitution had provided for the lawmakers to complete the job. So the parties amended the interim constitution and extended the life of the Constituent Assembly by one more year. Even after that, the progress has been slow. This shows that the constitution may not be written even within the extended period. This shows that the parties are more interested in power, position and perks rather than their job and problems of the country.
It must be remembered that the people had almost lost their trust in the parties in the past. The activities of the political parties in the 13 years after the 1990 political change made the people apathetic to politics as the parties were focussed more on partisan and personal gains than on the problems of the people. It can be substantiated by the poor show in the protest of the political parties when then King Gyanendra took over power and imposed his direct rule. It was only after the leaders publicly apologised and expressed commitment not to repeat past mistakes that the people came overwhelmingly to the streets that toppled the king’s regime.
After the success of Jana Andolan II, people had expected the parties to change their behaviour. But the people’s expectations were soon dashed as the parties and leaders again got bogged down in dirty power politics instead of engaging in politics to empower the people. This power game took an uglier turn after the Constituent Assembly election. The government could not be formed for more than four months after the results of the election were announced. Open chasm and sharp division appeared during the election of the president and vice president. The parties were polarized into the Congress-led alliance and the Maoist-led front.
In the election for the president and vice president, the Maoists were defeated. This sowed the seed of mistrust among the parties and consensus politics. The interim constitution did not have any provision for ruling and opposition benches so as to ensure that there would be consensus politics and cooperation among the parties. But constitution was amended, and this provision was inserted at the insistence of the Nepali Congress.
As the largest party in the CA, the Maoists had the legitimate right to lead the government. But efforts were made not to allow the Maoists to form the government. Only after much ruckus were the Maoists able to do so. Although a Maoist-led coalition government was formed, serious efforts were made to pull down this government right from the beginning.
At the same time, the Maoists were also not able to understand the feelings and concerns of the coalition partners and carry them along. There had already been some serious differences among the coalition partners on several issues, and those differences broke out openly when the issue of removing the army chief came to the fore. This broke the coalition and the Prachanda-led government collapsed.
As a result the new government headed by UML leader Madhav Nepal was formed. This government, too, collapsed in one year which gave rise to uncertainty for seven months as a new government could not be formed. Now another government headed by CPN-UML chairperson Jhalanath Khanal is in place. But this government, too, has been facing similar problems faced by the earlier government.
All parties to blame
The politics of unity and consensus has been broken. The breach of consensus politics is a breach of the spirit of the interim constitution. The spirit of the interim constitution is to settle all issues through consensus among the major political parties. In the breach of this constitutional provision, all the political parties are responsible. The Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, UCPN-Maoist and Madhesi parties are to be blamed for the violation of the constitution.
Time is running short, but the parties can still correct their mistakes and again work together as per the constitutional provision at least until the new constitution is promulgated and the ongoing peace process is successfully concluded.
Comments
Post a Comment