KATHMANDU, APRIL 4
The present coalition government could not extend the Cabinet in totality.
After the coalition supported by the Unified Marxist-Leninist(UML) ran into rough weather leading to its disintegration, several ministers belonging to the UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) offered their resignations. The government had to fill the ministerial posts that had been vacant. Like the superman of children comic books, the Prime Minister was in charge of 16 portfolios with three others looking after their own portfolios.
It was expected that the extension of the Cabinet would happen in one go, but only part of it has been filled due to intraparty conflict in the Nepali Congress (NC). The Shekhar faction of the NC did not join the coalition reportedly after the Health Ministry, which was so professionally handled by Gagan Thapa, was not forthcoming. The NC is holding the meeting to address this heightening intraparty conflict.
The coalition had to suffer a double blow right from the beginning. Firstly, the Cabinet could not be extended fully as it was being claimed, and, secondly, one of the factions of the coalition, the Janamat Party, has already exited itself over disagreement of not receiving the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, which was earlier committed to it. Moreover, the Rastriya Jana Morcha (RJM) has not joined the government.
These are political minnows, and hence their absence in the government does not destabilise the political equilibrium. Despite this, cracks, however minor, have already surfaced in the coalition armour. It will certainly provide K P Oli, the former Prime Minister, the necessary fire power to explode a high decibel political bombshell at the government amidst his contention that he can bring down the coalition any time he desires.
This is, however,contrary to the view of his deputy Bishnu Poudel that the party is focussed on a grassroots campaign to bolster the party's landslide win in the next election than making or breaking coalitions at this juncture. It gives the indication that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing in the UML when it is por-trayed as a more coordinated cadre-based party.
This coalition appears more cohesive than the earlier one. Though the right and left divide exists, with the NC, Janata and the Loktrantrik Samajbadi Party on the near to right pole, as against the Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialists on the left, it is relieved by the tug of war between the republicans and mon-archists as well as between the federalists and its opponents as was seen in the coalition supported by the UML. The absence of the RPP and the RJM has created this situation. However, the issue of the federalist and its opponents will enter with the participation of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which may take place any time soon.
One of the glaring deficiencies in the present coalition is the failure to make the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) although it has held several meetings to give it final shape. In fact, it should have been made public before the expansion of the Cabinet. It is because the CMP forms the spine of the coalition government, and it provides a framework for action in the days to come.
That the CMP is also a ritualistic exercise as is the manifesto on the eve of the elections in Nepal and it is forgotten as soon as it is released is, however, a different matter.
The CMPs of the past indicate that the most severe problems afflicting the country are kept in the back burner. For example, the strengthening of the economy was ranked fourth after firstly, citizenship and national identity, secondly, policy and structural reform, and thirdly, democracy, governance and quality service, when it should have appeared at the top of the 21-point programme brought out by the UML- supported coalition in view of the deteriorating state of the economy. This may be because of the varying perception of the different political parties, but all agree that the economy should occupy the central stage.
It is also found that certain issues will receive prominence while others are not accorded that much importance. It is generally so when the ideological decisiveness among the coalition partners on those issues is high. A study carried out in Europe among 224 coalitions of 24 countries of east and west Europe in the post-war period has at least indicated this reality.
This is likely to be severe in Nepal because of the intraparty conflict among the political parties in Nepal.
For example, the Cabinet could not receive totality because of the intraparty differences in the NC. Similarly, discords exist in other parties as well apart from the likes of the newly emerging RSP.
The Cabinet may receive its full quota of ministers and the CMP also may be flashed open soon. But what matters is the performance of the government.
The coalition government seldom excels in this area due to the responsibilities of so many, nine in the present coalition, which boils down to the responsibility of none. This is exemplified by the below par performance of the NC-led five-party coalition. As a result, it could not receive a majority in the election, following which it broke down after the flight of the present Prime Minister to the UML camp.
People have already lost patience with the governments due to their failure to deliver the goods and services as promised. This has brought disrepute to the Republican and Federalist polity allowing its opponents to raise their voice in a more pitched manner.
The inability to expand the Cabinet in its full strength has also exposed the fault lines of coalition politics. It is time to deal in full capacity and not in installment given the multiple problems engulfing the country, in general, and the deteriorating economy, in particular. The government should realise this harsh reality and gear up for a course which is devoid of roses but pointed thorns all the way.
The inability to expand the Cabinet in full has exposed the fault lines of coalition politics. It is time to deal in full capacity and not in installment given the multiple problems engulfing the country
A version of this article appears in the print on April 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
