‘Not enough time given to read draft constitution’

on the feedback trail

PARVAT, July 20: "We have not been given enough time to read and comment on the draft constitution," said Shova Kanta Rijal, a resident of Huwas VDC in Parvat district after receiving the draft distributed in his village on Friday, a week behind schedule.

Headmaster of Janasewa Sanskrit Higher Secondary School, Rijal stated it most of the locals were not satisfied with the short notice given to the public to read the draft constitution and comment on it.

While CA members elected under the first-past-the-post electoral system from the district are interacting with locals in the constituency, the locals have accused them of coming to the public with a ready-made mindset.

"It appears as if the lawmakers have come to seek public feedback merely as a formality," said Yam BK, coordinator of Dalit Common Forum in the district, while interacting with lawmaker Bikash Lamsal of Parbat-1.

On one hand, municipality and VDC officials have yet to distribute the draft constitution to the public even on the eighth day of 15 day timeframe set by the CA for feedback collection. On the other hand, people are not convinced that their feedback will make any difference.

"We know that the country can't bear the cost of eight provinces. We are not satisfied with the federal model proposed by the draft constitution. But will the CA minimize the number of provinces based on our suggestion?" questions Guru Prasad Upadhyay, forum coordinator at Ward-8 of Kushma Municipality.

Shukra Raj Dhungana, 64 is a disabled elderly. He says he was disappointed after reading the provisions on fundamental rights. He said the draft constitution has failed to guarantee education and job to the disabled in the country.

Responding to public concern, CA member from Parbat-1, Lamsal tried to convince the participants arguing that the draft was based on four million questions raised by citizens earlier in 2008 when the lawmakers went to people asking them of their expectation from the new constitution.

"Each and every suggestion is part of CA history even if they can't be comprised in this single document," Lamsal told the participants. He further mentioned that public feedback would also be useful for amending the constitution in the long run.

"Less like a constitution, more like an act"

The draft missed the philosophical and theoretical approaches to constitution making, which gives it a look of an act rather than a constitution, said Dilip Paudel, Chairperson of Nepal Bar Association, Parbat district.

Points dealing with local governance, rights to property, among others, are too lengthy, he added.

"This draft fails to maintain the supremacy of the constitution and rather looks like a compilation of various agreements between the political parties," he argued.

A political science lecturer at Gupteshwar Multiple Campus, Yadav Prasad Paudel argued that the document is full of jargons. Likewise, the use of vague statements confuses people, creating room for misinterpretations.