Gandaki Ahead In Revamping Administration

Despite being an important component of the federal system of governance, provinces in Nepal have not been as efficient and effective in their functioning as envisioned because of persisting political instability, leading to frequent changes in government leadership. Since the first three-tier elections held in 2017, provinces have formed numerous governments. Those cabinets have also been reshuffled many times. Thus, provinces have seen hundreds of ministers over the past eight years. The provincial governments have often been criticised widely for failing to improve service delivery and check fiscal and other anomalies.     

Even amid such a scenario, the Gandaki provincial government has now been able to draw public attention by taking an exemplary step of revamping its administration. The government lately announced its plan to do away with nine various offices, merge nearly three dozen others into 17 and slash 185 positions. This decision intends to reduce administrative costs and reorganise service delivery. With this bureaucratic reform, the provincial government is expected to witness a reduction in salary expenses and other related liabilities by as much as Rs. 400-500 million annually. Chief Minister of Gandaki Province Surendra Raj Pandey and his team members deserve the credit for taking this initiative. 

Austerity measures 

Considering several positive outcomes of this measure, the federal government and other provinces must follow in the footsteps of the Gandaki provincial government. Controlling unnecessary administrative expenses is a must for every public institution. Various commissions formed in the past have also suggested that all three-tier governments take austerity measures in view of the country’s falling revenue collection and inflow of foreign aid.

Gandaki was also the first among provinces to formulate and enforce ride-sharing laws. The province introduced the guidelines in May this year. But the provincial government had to suspend the implementation of the laws at least for one month at the call of the federal government in order to reach negotiations with the transport entrepreneurs and workers. They had staged a nationwide strike, bringing the public transportation to a grinding halt. The province had introduced laws to manage ride-sharing, facilitate passengers, increase revenues and create more jobs for youth. 

The laws include various provisions such as allowing privately-owned vehicles to be utilised for ride-sharing, digital registration and operational limits and fares. The guidelines also require riders’ participation in the social security scheme. Because the country does not have a reliable, comfortable and easily accessible public transport system, common people are still bound to go through many ordeals. Ride-sharing services are gradually becoming available in urban areas across the country. With the availability of these services, passengers seem to have been breathing a great sigh of relief. To manage such services, other provinces have also started working on the necessary laws. 

However, the Gandaki provincial government still has a long way to go in terms of implementing varied development projects and providing people with better services. The government requires a reduction in the number of ministries as far as possible as part of its administrative overhaul. There has been an erroneous tendency among politicians to split ministries just to lengthen their stay in power. Gandaki, as well as other provincial governments, appear to have opted for inducting any lawmakers who are either close to the concerned ruling party or who can play roles in forming and bringing down governments into their cabinets. 

Rajiv Gurung, also known as Deepak Manange, elected as an independent lawmaker from Manang district, was a good case in point. Coming from a criminal background, Gurung was crucial in the power equation for years. He was able to grab various ministry portfolios. What was mocking was that every chief minister of the province was found interested in inducting the gangster-turned-lawmaker into their cabinets before the Supreme Court convicted the latter of attempted murder about 22 months ago. Since then, he has been serving his jail terms. Just to remain in power, he had even joined the CPN-Unified Socialist. Later on, he quit the party to suit his personal interests.

Several other provincial assembly members elected on a ticket of one party or the other have also been accused of being involved in corruption and other illegal activities. They have been equally responsible for eroding the image of provincial assemblies and governments. Like at the federal level, power games have been widespread at the provincial level. Political parties are often blamed for creating provinces just for ‘managing’ their leaders and cadres. However, the constitution has assigned provinces to carry out administrative and development functions in their respective territories. Yet, what is appalling is that the provinces have so far been unable to prove their mettle.  

Collaboration

It is worth mentioning that the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Federalism Implementation had called for minimising the number of provincial ministers from 20 per cent of assembly members to 10 per cent. It had also recommended slashing the number of ministries, departments and employees by 50 per cent at the federal level. But these recommendations have yet to be implemented fully. Had these proposals been enforced, administrative expenses would have been reduced significantly both at the federal and provincial levels. 

They must step up measures to reduce such expenditures to maintain balance in public finance and lessen the burden of fast-rising public debt. Provinces need to be made more independent financially. Provinces must also be free from unwanted federal interference so that they can function autonomously as envisaged by the constitution. However, there should be good coordination and collaboration among all three-tier governments. 

(The author is a former deputy executive editor of this daily.)