PM's indecisiveness costs country dear

KATHMANDU, April 3: It has been two months since Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal was elected to the post on February 3, yet there is not a single reason for the Khanal government to celebrate.



Here is a series of Khanal´s failures: he has failed to give full shape to his cabinet let alone deliver governance, advance the peace process and maintain law and order.



While the prime minister, who is also chairman of the CPN-UML, has been unable to nominate new ministers from his own party due to deepening intra-party feuds, largest coalition partner UCPN (Maoist) has also failed to pick new ministers for the same reason.[break]



Leaders from Khanal´s own party have attributed the delay in giving full shape to the cabinet and the sluggishness in governance delivery to the prime minister´s indecisiveness.



"Prime ministers faced disputes, controversies and dilemmas in the past, but they took decisions. This prime minister, however, has shown utter inability to settle issues on his own," said a UML leader preferring anonymity. "The country shouldn´t have to bear the cost of factional, intra-party or inter-party disputes because of personality clashes."



Some party leaders also blamed the prime minister for not maintaining consistency in his commitments and policies, his action plan and the future course of the government.



UML leaders working in coordination with the prime minister concede that the government leadership has wasted two months when they should have been able to create a good image for the government.



"We admit that we failed to show decisiveness; we have very limited time left to prove our efficiency and we must endeavor for that," Ghanshyam Bhusal, one of the UML leaders working with the prime minister told Republica.



In his first address to the nation on February 19, Khanal had challenged his opponents not to take his patience and his efforts to forge consensus as weaknesses.



Alhough some other political parties also including Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party, CPN (Samyukta) and CPN-ML have, in principle, agreed to join the government, Khanal has so far failed to bring them on board and settle the row over sharing of ministerial portfolios.



Unable to settle the Maoist-UML row over the home ministry, Khanal had earlier decided to look after that portfolio himself. But he is being criticized for his inability to appoint a home minister even as law and order is deteriorating day by day, with some unidentified armed outfits setting off a series of bomb blasts in recent days.



The resignation of Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal has come as the latest blow for the new government as the surprise move by the popular top bureaucrat triggered unprecedented uproar among opposition parties and society in general.



While the extended deadline for the new constitution is expiring on May 28, the government has not made any significant progress with the peace process.



"The only positive decision this government has taken so far is introducing a policy to address the energy crisis, though the decision is limited to paper," said the UML leader.



The prime minister´s press advisor, Surya Thapa, said the situation would not be prolonged much further. "The prime minister is all set to give the cabinet full shape. He will do it within a couple of days," he said. Thapa claimed that once the cabinet is given full shape, the prime minister would focus on delivery.

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