Taken for a ride

It has been less than a month and once again, the inevitable is just around the corner. Over the last few years, it has almost always been a foregone conclusion that politicians will not be able to deliver what they promise. That common folk such as us can predict government ineptitude with such regularity and precision is very alarming indeed.  

Last week marked the fifth anniversary of the first election to the Constituent Assembly after the Maoists agreed to re-join manifold multiparty politics. In five years – the entire term of a government in most democracies – Nepal hasn’t been able to write a constitution for itself, which was pretty much the main task those elected had to accomplish. They failed. Not once, but multiple times.  

Those in the corridors of power over the last five years have showed very little intent to actually allow Nepal to complete its transition to a republic and Nepal remains an interim state. This time around, it is the same story all over again. The leading parties first decided to outsource administration to Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi to cover for their own failings and to buy themselves more time before the next election (and obviously shelve all blame onto him if elections do not happen on time). Regmi was, by virtue of his neutrality and high public standing, expected to wave a magic wand and get the parties in line and call for elections by June.  

However, he too seems to have caught the same flu that afflicts our politicians. Less than a month into his new role, there are already pronouncements that elections cannot be held on time and will likely be shifted to November instead as a result of supposed technical complications. Whatever these complications are, nobody thinks it important enough to provide any explanation to the public.  

Regmi has also said that he is in favour of declaring a poll date once he is sure he will not have to change it. That is akin to putting the horse before the cart, as the old adage goes. Rather than setting the agenda himself and pressuring the political parties to fall in line, he has decided to do the reverse – he is allowing what should be his agenda to be dictated by the whims of the political parties. 

The Chief Justice, supposedly a harbinger of hope for Nepal and the man to bring the country out of political limbo, has already set the wrong precedent. Increasingly, his motivations are being questioned, as are his actions. Whether malicious or genuine in intent, his inaction in bringing together the parties to agree upon a date for elections at the soonest is shaping perceptions of him, and thus far, the picture emerging is not flattering at all. There seems to be no desperation whatsoever on his part in getting the country back on track.  

In the meanwhile, ordinary Nepalese, who are supposed to determine the fate of the country, or at least that of its leadership, have been sidelined entirely and are now mere spectators to the political drama that continues to play out in Kathmandu. The politicians of the four big parties have taken the country for a ride. At some level perhaps, they realise that the people have realised this, and hence they fear elections.

 

(This was a column published in The Himalayan Times on 14 April 2013)