People die as President laughs off PM's constitutional errs
KATHMANDU, MAY 21
A man who served the town an 'Impeccable taste of Taas' was snatched away by a virus that robs people of their taste. He ran a reputed establishment in Narayanghat for decades which some claim to be the best taas in the city. I went to his restaurant on a regular basis to curb my cravings. His two sons are in our close friends' circle. This affects most of the people I know. This also affects the whole city whose taste buds were once moved by 'that' authentic taste. And I think to myself, could this misery have been well prevented? The answer is, Yes. If our politics knew how to prioritise things, most of this havoc was preventable.
Our country has long lost its priorities. It's not just this current communist government or this Covid-19 situation that is going astray. The politicians running the show now come from schooling that taught them to put words over actions. This communist government was, however, the most powerful and widely accepted government in the history of this country. There were so many things that went wrong for decades and needed to be aligned in the right direction. For instance, the situation with public health. It wasn't Covid that showed us the real picture of our public health system. It was well before the pandemic that Dr. KC pointed out this limitation in our health system by going on a hunger strike almost 20 times. None of the leaders, not a single one, showed a slight interest to deliver on his demands. Few of them tried but not up to the point where all his concerns were addressed.
Oli's supporters think his government was able to defeat and defame Dr. KC. They count this as their victory. This pandemic doesn't care for the political points, it is ruthless on communists, refined socialists, and liberals equally.
Since the dawn of this pandemic almost a year and a half back, the public health crisis suddenly became real to all. Now, everyone is talking about how dire the situation is. The doctor-patient ratio, the cost of medicines, access to health facilities in remote areas, the patient to bed ratio, permits granted to incompetent medical colleges, the quality of doctors produced, the cost of studying medicine, health insurance, nurse's labor being exploited by private health sectors and countless other issues that needed to be addressed were untouched by most of the cabinets. These issues should have made headlines every day but they didn't. These issues weren't glamorous back then.
The vast majority of the people in the low or medium tiers of this society don't have a pleasant experience corresponding to the current health system. Adarsh Mishra, a talented stand-up comic and one of the finalists of the widely popular show 'Comedy Champions' has recently posted his experience with the public health system -- the trouble he had to endure to get regular kidney dialysis for his father suspected of having contracted the infection. His outcry in the video he posted is the real situation on the ground. 'Where are our politics and press when we need them?'', he asks in the video.
What is our politics doing about the most important things in our lives? Where does it stand on health, education, and transportation? The answer is nowhere to be found.
This government wants us to believe it has done its sheer part in bringing prosperity to this country. What it has done, as a matter of fact, is outsource work to private sectors looking for instant profit by building things. It has failed to work on policies related to health, transportation, education, and good governance. The work in policy reform is like everyday chores, with not much glamour in it. They are tedious and hard. Much like working on the foundation of a house. They don't want to get dirty with policy works, everyone craves populism.
The one who is willing to get all dirty on hard work must have a proper work ethic and a sheer determination to serve. These are endangered qualities in the current generation of leaders. Hoping for this crisis to end and more on the way by this kind of leadership is nothing short of stupidity.
To our dismay, Oli has a problem with the word, 'Pratigya' meaning 'determination' or 'a tight promise'. In the latest video of the PM's swearing-in, he says out loud to the President of this country, he doesn't need to say that word out loud and she laughs. The palpable chemistry evident between the State Head and the Executive Head running a 'circus' is, simply put, out of this world. Together, they have made a mockery of what could have been one of the finest democracies in the world. The people close to us, those that we lost to this battle of Covid did not need to die. We cannot lose more people to their incompetence. We cannot continue to run around helpless as the Prime Minister reminds those watching the show through his words to the President that he will do as he please and not what is legal or proper or even constitutionally correct. Nobody must be left in want of oxygen to breathe as the Office of the State Head laughs away the constitutional errs and mischievous political adventurous of the Office of the Executive Head.
People should unite and speak up again as we did during the first wave of the pandemic and tell them 'Enough is Enough'.
An edited printed version of this opinion is available on the May 20, 2021 edition of The Himalayan Times
