Parleys On Constitution

The new government under Prime Minister Balendra Shah has attached priority to revisiting constitution so that the national charter will reflect evolving dynamics of the society. For this, it has constituted the Constitution Amendment Task Force to solicit the ideas and suggestions from various stakeholders. The other day, the taskforce held a meeting with former civil servants that can be seen as a potential positive change in the political and bureaucratic system. Former bureaucrats present in the meeting suggested that the practice of appointing career politicians as ministers should be discontinued. They suggested that experts should be appointed as ministers, reflecting a critique of the spoils system, where ministries are handed out as political rewards rather than based on proficiency.

Chaired by Task Force Coordinator Asim Shah and Secretariat Member Leeladhar Subedi, the meeting brought together former constitutional heads, former chief secretaries, foreign affairs experts and former administrators. Their collective expertise revolved around identifying the structural gaps in the constitution that require urgent amendment and their solutions. Parliament is known as the legislative body, and limiting lawmakers implies that they should stay out of executive functions and strictly focus on lawmaking. The government has always hinted at change in forms of governance, with the context suggesting a push for a directly elected executive (President or PM) to ensure stability, moving away from the revolving door coalitions of the past.

Another key issue for constitution amendment revolves around the refinement of the federal structure. The proposal to slash the number of ministries at both federal and provincial levels suggests that the current system is viewed as bloated and economically unsustainable. This financial remodeling must start from the grassroots level by making local government the primary face of the state for citizens, also known as the bottom-up approach. The more lean and local model for federalism must consist of harmonizing taxes to prevent double taxation or jurisdictional confusion between the three tiers of government, and the experts discussed how this could be made feasible in the constitution.

However, to make the three governments more effective and liable, even with the prospect of a directly elected executive, there should be autonomy of constitutional bodies. According to the experts, constitutional bodies should be made fully autonomous since many current commissions are seen as redundant or politically compromised. Only with these changes can the perceived partisan horse-trading that currently plagues high-level appointments like the Chief Justice or Election Commissioners be overcome. And the recent passing of the ordinances has also made it easier for the government to work on these factors before the constitution amendment.

The inclusion of foreign affairs experts in a constitutional discussion is important to maintain geopolitical balance, which indicates a desire to adopt non-alignment or specific neutrality principles more firmly into the state's guiding documents. Experts also advised reviewing treaties and agreements, which points towards a more assertive or cautious approach to international relations in the new constitutional era.

The discussion about constitution amendment is not new, and the previous coalition between the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML also mentioned this in their seven-point agreement. But, after the Gen Z movement, the amendment model has changed, and the current government is seeking suggestions from experts to address the needs of citizens through amendments that will overcome the public exhaustion with unstable governments, thereby developing a stable and long-running supportive system.