Bad Government

Editorial

Bad Government

The argument is that our politics have so attracted international power politics into the country that international powers are close to wresting total control of national politics from our politicians. Comparisons with Libya, Syria and Afghanistan have been floating for quite sometime now although we would see similarities with Lebanon in the Seventies. Likewise, preferences against this fluidity are being voiced through insinuations with Israel while one does see a possible, preferable, alternative in Jordan. The problem is that governance is blatantly no priority in government. It is government. The problem is that government has been bad. The conclusion is that non-national governments have contributed to bad government. Common sense prevails even in government and opposition circles that government is not being allowed, forget governance. The problem is that our politicians brought this on themselves. This is to the extent now that our politicians must voice their mortal fears at hands of political competition which, by insinuation again, suggests foreign threats.

The preoccupation with political power has propelled political liquidity to the extent that it defies analysis. Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli may or may not be in his post by time this comes to print. This is because he has been distancing himself from his party which theoretically determines his post. Constitutionally it is parliamentary majority that determines. He has however short circuited this constitutional option by abruptly dissolving the budget session. The abruptness has brought the President into constitutional controversy once again. More so he has brought malleable and highly vulnerable opposition counterpart, former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba into focus as a possible ally in the effort to bail Oli out. The prime minister’s refusal to bow down to party demands for his resignation notwithstanding, continuing talks with his prime opponent in his party, the other party Chairman, former prime minister and former Maoist Supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal extends the possibility of party meeting which have been repeatedly postponed. Ironically, Oli’s other detractors in his own party, former prime ministers Madhav Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal appear seething in the sidelined lacking the clout of formal party meets. In the process, Oli has already dragged in Subhas Nmbung as an ally or his alternative to premiership while, another party stalwart and among the sources of the party squabble, Bam Dev Gautam is struggling keep his headlines.

The fact is that Nepal’s politics has been fluid for decades now at the hands of senior politicians. The problem this time is that government should be so log-jammed over crass political seats shunning the need for attending to mounting national problems. Constitutional institutions have all been brought to standstill pending talks on a power grab the reasons for which are thoroughly blind-sided. This makes the power play so naked that it shuns reason given the agitated state of the country. In the light of recent Prime Minister Oli publicity of foreign powers after his post, looks like the streets become the lone solution. Forget governance, the perpetual fight for government in government forbids sense and welcomes national collapse.

People’s Review Prnt Edition