KATHMANDU, AUGUST 2
Whataboutery and frequent obstruction of the House by major opposition parties have derailed the Parliament from its chief job - lawmaking.
So far, 275 lawmakers have not been able to formulate even a single new law in the past eight months due to frequent obstruction of the House.
"Till date, only usury has been criminalised through amendment to the bill by lawmakers," assistant spokesperson of the Lower House, Dashratha Dhamala told THT. "Lawmakers have passed three regular yearly bills of the government for ratification which is revised every year," he said.
The meeting of the Lower House could not continue yesterday too. The major opposition party CPN-UML obstructed House proceedings and demanded that high-level investigation committee be formed to probe the government's seizure of illegally imported gold from Tribhuvan International Airport on July 19.
However, the ruling coalition parties have disagreed with UML'S demand.
UML has been blocking the Parliament since July 26 demanding thorough investigation into the gold smuggling case. It has alleged the involvement of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat in the racket.
This is the latest in a series of Parliament disruptions in recent months. During the current session of the Federal Parliament, there have been disruptions of House proceedings on multiple issues and occasions. Altogether, 45 meetings of the HoR have been held since the November 20 election. According to the Federal Parliament Secretariat, 28 meetings were held in the first session that lasted from January 9 to April 28. There was no interruption in any of the meetings of the first session. However, in the second session which started on May 7, multiple interruptions were observed.
The House of Representatives was interrupted for the first time by Rastriya Prajatantra Party on May 10. The RPP blocked the HoR meeting citing that they could not get a chance to speak during zero hour.
After it was agreed to give time to RPP leader Rajendra Lingden, it did not interrupt the next meeting.
On May 26, the UML disrupted the meeting of the HoR. In the meeting of the Parliament on May 24, Maoist Centre MP Lekhnath Dahal had accused then prime minister KP Sharma Oli of corruption while installing the golden jalahari in the sanctum sanctorum of Pashupatinath temple.
The UML didn't let Parliament's activities move on until they got apology. They demanded an apology from PM Dahal and got the statement expunged. Later, PM Dahal spoke on the topic and removed the record of the statement to run the Parliament smoothly.
On June 4, CPN-UML and Rastriya Swatantra Party interrupted the meeting of the Lower House jointly.
Speaker Ghimire adjourned the meeting after lawmakers disrupted the meeting over PM Dahal's visit to India and ratification of the Citizenship Bill by the president.
On June 5, when PM Dahal gave clarification regarding the verification of the Citizenship Bill and his visit to India, the obstruction of the Parliament ended.
On June 27 and 28, the UML and RSP again obstructed the HoR over the issue of placing the District Election Offices under the District Administration Office in the budget. But in the second meeting when Finance Minister Mahat said the district election office would remain as it was, the meeting was not interrupted.
On July 5, the Lower House was disrupted due to the controversial statement of PM Dahal. The opposition parties did not allow the Parliament to run after PM Dahal said, "Sardar Pritam Singh went to India to put him on the prime ministerial chair."
The UML demanded prime minister's resignation, while RPP and RSP demanded his response. However, after the prime minister's explanation in the July 10 meeting, the HoR resumed.
On July 16, the RSP obstructed the Parliament claiming that procedure was not followed while tabling the new bill, 'Bill to amend some Nepal Acts, 2023.' The meeting was then adjourned for 15 minutes. But due to the fact that the parliamentarians of RSP themselves were perplexed by the process, the meeting was resumed shortly.
On July 26, the UML blocked the meeting over the passage of one quintal gold from Tribhuvan International Airport. The UML has demanded formation of a high-level inquiry committee for thorough investigation and alleged the collusion of the home minister and the finance minister in the scam. The UML has said it will not allow the House to run until the committee is formed.
Amid the UML's resistance, the meeting of the HoR has been postponed for a week. The next meeting has been scheduled for August 7 at 1:00pm.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 3, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
