The govt must reach consensus on the citizenship bill rejected by then prez
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha the other day said that no eligible citizen would be deprived of citizenship and that the government would take initiatives to forge a national consensus on citizenship issues. While addressing a press conference, Shrestha said the government was in favour of making citizenship certificates available to all eligible citizens in an easy and expeditious manner. He also said that many eligible citizens were deprived of their constitutional right to obtain citizenship as the citizenship bill, twice passed by the federal parliament before the November 20 general election, was not endorsed by then President Bidhya Devi Bhandari. While furnishing replies to the Supreme Court over a writ petition filed against her decision to reject the citizenship bill, passed twice by both the House of Representatives and National Assembly, on November 16, the President's Office had argued that she refused to seal the bill as the lawmakers were not given ample time to make amendments against the provisions of the bill, which she had earlier resent to the House for reconsideration. She had argued that the bill was in conflict with the constitution, and it violated the rules and procedures. After the bill was rejected by the then President, it remained null and void.
While resending the bill on citizenship to the House on August 14 last year, then president Bhandari had raised nine points for reconsideration. She had asked the House to resolve the citizenship issue once and for all, and also to issue the citizenship certificate with a provincial identity as specified by the new constitution. But both the Houses of the Federal Parliament did not consider these issues and resent the bill without making any changes as sought by the president. Bhandari had asked the House to resolve the citizenship issue that has remained unresolved since 1952. The government had been issuing naturalised citizenship papers by setting a "cut-off date" every time the country faces major political changes.
As the Home Minister has said the government would forge national consensus on the bill, it is unlikely to be passed by the current session of the parliament, which is going to end soon. Nor can the government resend the bill to get it endorsed by the new president. The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government had passed the controversial bill keeping in mind the upcoming November elections. As the bill has been shelved with no possibility of its immediate passage, over half-a-million people, especially those born to parents who had obtained naturalised citizenship or citizenship by birth will be deprived of their constitutional right to obtain Nepali citizenship by descent. Others who want to obtain citizenship in the mother's name will also have to wait until the bill is passed by the parliament. This issue should not be kept lingering indefinitely as it has already affected them from pursuing a normal life. One of the best ways to resolve the citizenship issue is to go back to the political consensus reached at the then parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee, which had settled almost all the issues, except for one related to the timing of obtaining matrimonial naturalised citizenship by a foreign woman after getting married to a Nepali man.
Mayor at large
It's been almost a fortnight since an arrest warrant was issued for the mayor of Gewahi Gonali Municipality, yet no arrest has been made, giving rise to speculations that the political leadership is trying to shield him. The arrest warrant was issued after a fake examinee was held for giving the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) on the mayor's behalf recently. The SEE was chaotic this year, as it has always been, especially in the Tarai, with examinees engaging in unfair means to pass the exam. The mayor and the exam superintendent are at large, reportedly hiding somewhere in India. The mayor can face a fine of Rs 100,000 or a jail sentence of six months or both if convicted.
Since the fraudulent practice has been exposed, the question is, does the mayor, although an elected representative, have the moral ground to continue in the post any longer? It is high time laws were enacted to fix the minimum qualification required for contesting the federal, provincial and local level elections. What vision could people's representatives who have not even passed class 10 have for their constituencies? The parties should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such people to contest the elections, no matter what level.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 20, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
