Time To Instil Hope In People

With the formation of the new coalition government, headed by KP Sharma Oli, expectations abound nationwide. The three key areas that seek immediate attention and focus are governance, economy and foreign policy. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has also won the vote confidence in parliament with more than two-thirds majority of lawmakers. Now the Prime Minister and the government are expected to double down their efforts in addressing these three fundamental issues currently facing the country.

It is said ‘well-begun is half done’. Firstly he has made the seven-point understanding reached with the Nepali Congress public in parliament, which reflects the broader outline of new government’s priorities. Secondly, Prime Minister appears to be well aware of the problems of the country and seems to be focused on addressing these problems. The Prime Minister has chosen competent and experienced persons for three key positions — finance minister, chief political advisor and economic affairs advisor, which manifests his seriousness on these issues. Thirdly, he has clearly spelled out priorities of the government and spelled out his commitment to zero in on the issues he has prioritised. 

Genuine interest

Democracy is the people’s polity in which elected representatives govern for the greater interest of the people. Thus, democratic government is called the rule ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’. In democracy, political parties are the principal actors, whose common objectives should be to uphold people’s genuine interest irrespective of ideology and political orientation. Accordingly laws are enacted and all people — big or small and must abide by these laws. None is above the law in democracy. 

However, not all is well in our politics, despite the fact that we have democracy. There is a widespread feeling among the general mass that partisan and personal interests have overtaken the genuine concerns and welfare of the people while people’s genuine interests have taken a back seat. Power, position, wealth, personal and partisan benefits seem to have been the core attraction and interests in politics. As a result, people’s faith in political parties and leaders is dwindling, which was partly reflected in the last general election, too. Some new faces who claimed to be the alternative to the established and traditional parties won a few seats in parliament but they too, miserably failed to instil optimism in the people and their performance is even worse than other parties. 

These anomalies have discredited our system and are likely to further corrode the body politics of the country if not addressed in time and in an effective manner. Some people tend to blame the system for the anomalies we are facing at present. In fact, anomalies are not with the system but with intention, action and behaviours of political actors.  Ours is a republican and inclusive democracy. We achieved this system through relentless struggles and sacrifices. Nepal entered the era of multiparty democracy in 1951 but came under assault from the king within a decade. After three decades of Panchayat tyranny, democracy was restored in 1990, which again saw many tumults, and finally republican inclusive democracy was formally institutionalised with the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015.  

This system must be safeguarded which can be accomplished only through good conduct, transparent actions and honesty on the part of our political actors and leaders. The first thing we have to ensure is the political stability in the country. The instability and frequent change of the governments is attributed to the electoral system. Our electoral system is hybrid -- mix of the first-past-the-post and proportional system. Under this electoral system, no single party is likely to win majority seats in parliament. As a result, coalition government has been our fait accompli. Since the general election held in November 2022, coalition changed thrice. The power hungry nature of fringe parties contributed to the frequent change of coalition in which the large parties had supporting role. It was partly the role of the fringe parties and partly the bitter rivalry between the two largest parties that often gave room for fringe parties to play. 

 Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, now, seem to have realised this and finally come together to form a coalition, which is good for political stability. If the electoral system is the real culprit for political instability and frequent change of governments, constitution needs to be amended to change the electoral system. The constitution amendment is one of the agendas of the coalition government, which is also stated in the NC-UML seven point understanding. However, the seven-point understanding has not clearly spelled out which provisions of the constitution would be amended. Constitution is not a rigid document, which can be amended based on the necessity. But we have to make sure that it may not open a new phase of conflict and confrontation in the country. 

Good conduct

Against this background, Prime Minister Oli has both opportunities and challenges. He has opportunity to infuse optimism in the people about politics through ensuring good governance, strict law and order, corruption control and maintain high degree of morale, honesty and good conduct. Corruption has dented the morale of society against which the government must be firm without any ifs and buts.  Politics is virtuous vocation. However, the core spirit of politics and democracy seems to be under assault as politics and power are taken as the instrument to accomplish personal and partisan interest. As a result, corruption became rampant, bad governance became the name of the game, which has shaken the confidence and morale of the entire society and the country.

Thus, the new government must act resolutely. Given the deep-seated anomalies in our society and politics, it is not easy to completely root out corruption and political absurdities overnight. If the government acts firmly towards this direction, it can be achieved. It is expected that Prime Minister Oli and his government will succeed to wipe out these absurdities and ensure good governance instilling hopes in people. 

(The author is former editor of TRN and former ambassador to Denmark). lamsalyubanath@gmail.com)