Disappointing!

More than two months after Jhalanath Khanal was elected prime minister we are still waiting for his cabinet to get full shape. He has appointed seven ministers in two installments but has failed to induct any more members to his largely dysfunctional team. And almost every day we get empty assurances from both top Maoist and UML leaders that cabinet formation will soon be completed.



The Khanal government has already wasted more time than it has left, unless of course there is an agreement among the major parties around May 28 to give continuity to this government. As things now stand, it has less than two months to prove its relevance and if the past two months are any indication, it is unlikely to do anything worthwhile.



One wonders why this government has become so dysfunctional. It has failed on almost every front and has only courted controversy after controversy. The law and order situation has deteriorated, as amply demonstrated by a series of bomb blasts in public buses across the country in the past two weeks. The peace process hasn´t moved forward. Constitution writing seems to have hit a new roadblock after Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal withdrew from a taskforce constituted by the Constitutional Committee to resolve the pending disputes.



The resignation of Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal, who had taken a firm stance against tax defaulters and gone to great lengths to keep the economy on track, is a big moral blow to the Khanal government. That Khanal and Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari are now shedding crocodile´s tears will not earn them any public sympathy; instead, it will only expose their hypocrisy. In totality, the Khanal government has been a big disappointment.



It´s unlikely that things will change for the better in the next two months. This brings us to a crucial question: What happens after May 28, 2011 when the current extended term of the Constituent Assembly expires? Will it create a power vacuum and a constitutional crisis that will throw the country out of gear and into anarchy? It´s too early to say but the only thing that can save us from such a predicament is yet another agreement among the major parties towards the end of May. But unfortunately the trust deficit and bitterness among the major parties have only grown since the formation of this government and matters are further complicated by growing divisions within the UML and the Maoist party.



The so-called seven-point agreement signed by Prime Minister Khanal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has not only alienated the main opposition Nepali Congress but also left the UML deeply divided. It´s now time for Khanal and Dahal to start thinking beyond that controversial deal and initiate a dialogue in earnest with all the parties if they want to bail out the country.

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