Challenges Before New Ministers

Prime Minister Shushila Karki has expanded her cabinet, inducting Rameshwore Khanal, Kulman Ghising and Om Prakash Aryal as her ministerial colleagues of now. Thanks to the new ministers who have accepted the offer at a time when the country faces a grave hour of crisis. They have been allocated portfolios and responsibilities suited to their background, experiences and expertise.  These personalities have been widely acclaimed and appreciated for their role and contributions when they held responsibilities in different official and occupational capacities.

Minister for Finance Khanal is known as an economist and public intellectual.  He was a clean and fearless bureaucrat who had risen to the post of finance secretary during the previous decades and handled his responsibility in a befitting and competent manner. He had resigned from his post reportedly following his disagreement with the then Finance minister with late Bharat Mohan Adhikari on some issues who was finance minister. Khanal had had a brief stint in politics first with the Nepali Congress and later with the Naya Shakti party floated by Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai. But he was not satisfied with the way political parties operate and politicians act and conduct through their ways in this country. 

Positive gestures 

Soon, he parted ways with politics and resumed his role as an economist. He had helped the previous government extend his expert services as a chair of the high-level economic reform advisory panel. The economic reform measures suggested by the panel had been appreciated enough by both public and private sector stakeholders to revive and impart dynamism to the sluggish economy. His appointment as finance minister in this difficult and critical juncture of state affairs has been widely hailed. He has given positive gestures and announced that he will not use any perks and privileges allocated to the minister.

However, challenges before him are arduous and daunting. In the Gen Z movement, many physical infrastructures and assets have been destroyed. The historic Singha Durbar counted as one of the gigantic government secretariats in Asia, the Supreme Court building, and many other critical office complexes housing the provincial and local governments across the country. Modern, cost-intensive machines and equipment used to generate and produce vital documents like driving licenses have been reduced to ashes. Private sector firms and department stores such as widely popular Bhatbhateni malls, cable car operations and hotels have been irreparably torched and charred.  

Thousands of young people employed in these firms and establishments have been rendered jobless at a time when the country’s economic downturn and slide are yet to be halted. The country’s internal revenue and income have shrunken and it is difficult to finance the general expenditure. The indiscriminate attack on private sector enterprises and establishments has sent wrong signals and will dissuade the private sector, both at home and abroad, from investing. Amid these and other adverse challenges, Minister Khanal has to find ways to address them, which is, of course, not easy.

Likewise, Minister for Energy and Irrigation Kulman Ghising has been given responsibilities suited to his experience and expertise. Many other ministries allocated to him will definitely be reassigned and reshuffled when other ministers are inducted into the Karki-led cabinet. Ghising’s reputation as an effective management strategist and administrator was articulated when he managed to bring about an end to load-shedding and led Nepal from darkness to light. With Ghising at the helm of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Nepal has transitioned from a power-deficient to a power-surplus country that exports energy to India and Bangladesh. Nicknamed as light man of Nepal, he did not allow his enviable record of being an excellent and clean manager to be tainted and diminished. The previous government had removed him in an unceremonious manner, which was widely flayed. 

Though several challenges lie ahead, it is hoped that he will be able to make his way through all odds and adversities. His attention should primarily lie for now on toning up the road infrastructures, especially the highways, where a large number of people travel during Dashain and Tihar. He is advised to make an inspection of the decrepit roads, especially Narayahghat–Butwal road, whose reconstruction and rehabilitation work has been described as the classic case of inordinate delays and mismanagement. The Daunne section of the road is so badly damaged and mismanaged that passengers travelling through it must face travails of the worst kinds.  The travelling during Dashain and Tihar should be ensured as a zero-accident period through not only repair and maintenance but also proper regulatory enforcement. 

Public interest 

Senior advocate Om Prakash Ayal has been chosen to lead the Ministry of Home Affairs and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, among others.  Aryal has been a public interest and counter corruption champion who carved a niche when he fought the public interest litigations irresistibly and dauntlessly to oust the then CIAA chief, producing cogent, convincing evidence and arguments. There are several constitutional issues and cases in which Aryal took up and fought to safeguard public interest, constitutional probity and propriety. He is said to be close to Balen Shah, the popular mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolis and advised him on several critical public issues. 

He was reported to be mulling over contesting the Rupendehi-3 by-election, which was cancelled now, with the backing of popular mayor Balen Shah. In the new context that has unfolded following the Gen-Z movement, he is the right choice as a cabinet minister. Though the ministries he is assigned to now may be reallocated following the new expansion of the cabinet, in case he keeps the Home portfolio, he needs to tread cautiously and intelligently to handle the security apparatus in the country. The Home Ministry shoulders the onus to maintain law and order, security management, especially during the polls, which is very challenging as well. 

(The author is presently associated with Policy Research Institute (PRI) as a senior research fellow.  rijalmukti@gmail.com)