The prime minister, who has been widely criticized for failing to check corruption, admitted his failure after dozens of lawmakers at a parliamentary committee meeting on Sunday accused him of a turning a blind eye to widespread irregularities. Immediately after assuming his office as the country´s chief executive, Bhattarai had committed to adopt the policy of zero tolerance against corruption.[break]
Agreeing with lawmaker Chitra Bahadur KC´s argument that the prime minister was helpless despite knowing about some of the ministers´ involvement in corruption and abuse of authority, Bhattarai claimed he was still trying to bring about reforms.
“I agree with Chitra Bahadur KC, who is also my political guru,” the prime minister said responding to lawmakers´ queries at the meeting of the parliament´s State Affairs Committee. Bhattarai claimed that the social anomalies haven´t surfaced out of the blue but have prevailed since ages.
“I have been trying to purge the system but it certainly takes time. We mustn´t forget that we are in a transitional phase and no one can take strong measures in such a situation,” he further explained.
Prior to that, KC had argued that the prime minister has been trying to bring about reforms but the coalition partners have not been supportive.
“As a Nepali saying goes: a fish can´t speak because when it tries to speak its mouth gets full of water. So is the case with our prime minister,” KC said.
KC, chairman of Rastriya Janamorcha, claimed that the prime minister can´t keep his coalition intact once he takes strong measures against the ministers from Madhes-based parties.
“The prime minister is in a trap. It is certain that the government will collapse once he takes action against the corrupt ministers. At the same time, it is painful for the prime minister as everything is crystal clear to the people,” he explained. He said the prime minister is helpless despite knowing there are many corrupt ministers in his cabinet.
Lawmakers also accused the prime minister of sacking Labor Minister Sarita Giri because she posed no threat with her party holding only one seat in parliament. They said Bhattarai has kept mum over the wrongdoings of other ministers from Madhes-based parties fearing that their dismissal may eventually result in dissolution of the government.
The prime minister also held trade unions responsible for irregularities. “The problem has complicated further also because of trade unions and their leaders´ personal ambitions,” he said.
According to Bhattarai, the union leaders have a close nexus with political parties and obstruct reform measures introduced by the government.
However, Pampha Bhusal, a senior leader from the prime minister´s own party, came down heavily on Bhattarai for his “irresponsible statement” in trying to be innocent by passing the buck on trade unions run by junior civil servants.
“A majority of the members of trade unions are peons, drivers and none of the officials above the rank of section officer is allowed to join unions,” said Bhusal. She argued that junior civil servants are not the ones who lead the bureaucracy but top officials and ministers. “It is not fair of the prime minister to blame unionism for his failure,” Maoist politburo member Bhusal said, adding that the reform measures should begin from the top.
Bishnu Paudel and Pradeep Gyawali of the CPN-UML claimed that the prime minister could not effectively implement his good governance campaign because he couldn´t keep his word on adopting the policy of zero tolerance against corruption.
Jagadish Narasingh KC of the Nepali Congress said the ministers in the present government are seemingly competing to loot the state coffers. But the prime minister refuted and said the reaction has come for his attempts to bring about reforms and purge the bureaucracy of corruption.
After listening to the prime minister and lawmakers´ concerns, the parliamentary committee issued a directive to the prime minister´s office and concerned ministries to come up with, in the next 10 days, action plan to promote good governance.
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