Questions are being raised as to why Rabi is so adamant on getting the home portfolio
Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chair Rabi Lamichhane's citizenship may have been restored, but his chances of rejoining the Home Ministry as its head are slim. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has decided to keep the portfolio for himself until the Supreme Court (SC) releases the full text of its verdict that invalidated Lamichhane's election to the House of Representatives (HoR) in the polls held on November 20. Lamichhane had met the Prime Minister on Tuesday to seek reappointment as the home minister, which he had to give up following the apex court's ruling, but got no assurances. Later in the day, following the meeting of the office-bearers of the ruling CPN (Maoist Centre), its spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara told the press that the PM would keep the home portfolio for the time being, an indication that the party has no intention of giving the ministry to Lamichhane despite pressure from the major coalition partner.
Lamichhane wants the home ministry back as he is more than confident of his victory in the by-election in Constituency-2 in Chitwan from where he contested the election. Under Article 78 (1) of the constitution, any Nepali citizen can become a minister for six months even without becoming a lawmaker.
However, despite the enthusiasm being seen among the voters in Chitwan to re-elect Lamichhane, the upshot of not getting his citizenship restored prior to the November 20 election will be known only after the full verdict of the SC is released. If the SC has only invalidated his election to the HoR, then he can contest the by-election. But if his candidacy has been invalidated, then his nearest rival would be declared the winner. Some advocates have already interpreted the SC's invalidation of his election to the HoR as his defeat, which thus bars him from becoming a minister under Article 78 (4) during this term of the House.
Lamichhane had gotten the home portfolio under a power-sharing deal among the seven coalition partners. There are a lot of speculations as to how his party might react should he fail to get the home portfolio or be barred from joining the government altogether.
What if the RSP withdraws support to Dahal's government, will it collapse? A shrewd PM that Dahal is, he must have calculated the outcome of this possible scenario when deciding to keep the home portfolio for himself. Even if the RSP, with 20 seats, were to pull out, Dahal still has the support of more than the 138 lawmakers needed to keep him in power, especially given that the Nepali Congress has backed him despite sitting in the opposition. That, of course, could change once the presidential elections are held on March 9. It is difficult to understand why Lamichhane could have taken a sensitive issue like citizenship so lightly and carry two passports - Nepali and American. He has no one to blame but his own folly for what has come to pass. Even after the Supreme Court's full text of the verdict is known, there will be no dearth of people wanting to charge him for fraud - entering and exiting the country on multiple occasions using two passports. And the Maoist party is already starting to question why Lamichhane is so adamant on getting the home portfolio.
Corruption index
Transparency International (TI) released its 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) on Tuesday, ranking Nepal 110th among 180 countries and territories.
Nepal received 34 points out of 100, which is an improvement by seven points compared to the 2021 CPI report. TI publishes its flagship report which studies the countries in terms of perceived level of public sector corruption, which are based on expert assessment and opinion surveys. Countries scoring below 50 marks are considered to have a relatively higher level of corruption. Denmark is in first position with 90 points. Nepal has been ranked fifth after Bhutan, the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka in South Asia.
Although TI publishes its annual report on corruption level, it never tells the people what methodology is used to determine the corruption perception level.
Opinion surveys and expert assessments cannot be the yardstick to ascertain whether a particular country has made improvement in controlling corruption.
How come Nepal elevates by seven points when the state machinery has remained unchanged since last year? A long queue of people in front of the passport department and other offices is an indication how the government keeps functioning.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 2, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
