Agenda: Stalemate in both houses of Parliament, MCC deal
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 18
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has called an all-party meeting at 4:00pm tomorrow to discuss the stalemate in both the houses of Parliament and the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement that Nepal has signed with the United States.
The $500 million MCC compact aims to strengthen Nepal's infrastructure, particularly in the energy sector, improve regional energy connectivity, and reduce transportation costs to encourage economic growth and private sector investment in the country.
Political parties representing in the House of Representatives have been invited for the all-party meeting.
It is not yet clear if the main opposition party, CPN-UML, which has been obstructing proceedings in both houses of the Parliament over Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota's alleged bias against it, will attend the meeting.
The UML had boycotted previous all-party meetings called for discussing the House deadlock saying that it would not attend a meeting where CPN-Unified Socialist has been invited.
UML leaders say that formation of the CPN-US is illegal because the lawmakers associated with the erstwhile rival faction of the UML led by Madhav Kumar Nepal had been expelled from the party and yet the speaker had not confirmed their expulsion, making it easy for them to form a new party.
UML leader Khagaraj Adhikari told THT that his party would decide about the all-party meeting tomorrow after seeing the list of invitees.
Asked if his party would change its stance this time, Adhikari said there was no need for his party to change its stance as the speaker had not confirmed the expulsion of the 14 lawmakers.
Ramesh Malla, personal aide to CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said the prime minister had called the all-party meeting after consulting with CPN-MC Chair Dahal. He said Dahal was of the view that national consensus had to be forged on the MCC agreement.
"Dahal is of the view that the government has to tell the nation the reasons for adopting or rejecting the MCC agreement, and that should be done on the basis of national consensus,"
Malla said.
While the Nepali Congress and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba are in favour of ratifying the MCC deal in its current form, the two other ruling coalition partners – the CPN-MC and the CPN-US have said that the MCC cannot be ratified without amendments.
The US has, however, said that substantial provisions of the agreement cannot be altered at this time.
When KP Sharma Oli was prime minister, he had tabled the MCC in the House of Representatives for ratification. However, now, the UML says it will take a call only after the government consults it.
Some leaders of the ruling communist parties and some fringe left parties have opposed the MCC deal saying that it would amount to American interference in Nepal and it could make Nepal a part of the Indo-pacific strategy 'aimed against China.' The US has, however, clarified that the MCC agreement does not have any hidden agenda and is purely a grant assistance with no strings attached.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 19, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
