• POLICY AND PROGRAMME
KATHMANDU, MAY 21
CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli assailed the government's policies and programmes saying that the government had tried to hide the real problems facing the country.
Taking part in the debate on the government's policies and programmes in the House of Representatives today, Oli said that the government was acting like Nero who played the flute while Rome was burning. He said the government's document was full of contradictions. In point 5 of the government's document, the government says that things have improved significantly and the economy is doing alright, but in point 14, the government says that economy is in crisis, Oli added.
Stating that there was no plan to achieve high rate of economic growth, Oli said there was no vision for achieving the goals of social justice. Policy and programme document lacks vision, objective and goal, he added.
The former PM said that economic indicators pointed that the country's economy was facing recession, but the government has not even realised this fact and it has not told the public about it. He said that the prime minister sought help of the international community to collect revenue. "How can the government do that? Is it not the government's primary priority to collect revenue? The government has failed in its primary first duty" he said.
He said the government had achieved more than 6 per cent economic growth in 2017, 2018 and 2019, but that growth rate came down to an abysmal two per cent due to the mistakes of Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre coalition.
Oli accused the coalition government of rigging the three tier election held a few months ago. Oli said the coalition government's claim of strengthening federalism was wrong because it had neither coordinated with lower tiers of the government nor did it call any meetings with the chief ministers in the last two years.
Oli said the government tried to give the impression that the main opposition was obstructing the appointment of the Chief Justice but the government had not called any meeting of the Constitutional Council in the last 23 months.
There is a tendency (among coalition partners) to do anything to get power. He said that it appeared that the government did not know that Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani were Nepali territory.
India is our friendly nation with which we need to discuss our problems openly without any hesitation or fear, Oli said.
On the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, Oli said he took extra care to settle the Bhutanese refugees in a third country and he deserved praise for his role not condemnation.
Oli said the government should investigate who inserted the fake 429 Bhutanese refugees in the taskforce report.
The government is trying to give clean chit to those involved in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam and frame innocent people, he said. Oli said money was extorted from 975 people. He urged the government to investigate fake Bhutanese refugee scam so that those responsible could be prosecuted.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 22, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
