The MCC might have been ratified a long time back if the parties did not keep shifting their stance on the issue
The government finds itself in a tight spot as the United States sets February 28 as the deadline for ratifying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, failing which Nepal sets to lose $500 million in grants for two crucial projects. The US is apparently running out of patience over the handling of the MCC deal, with the Deuba government having sought deadline extensions time and again to ratify the compact. On September 29, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and coalition partner, chair of the CPN-Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', had written a joint letter to the MCC, asking the U.S. government to give it four to five months to secure ratification. In response, the acting chief executive officer of the MCC, in a letter on Wednesday, has given the Deuba government till February end to decide on the issue unless it wanted the termination of the MCC's partnership with Nepal. With time running out, the Prime Minister is doing everything possible to persuade Dahal and opposition leader KP Sharma Oli to back the MCC deal.
The five-year MCC compact, which was signed in September 2017, should have been seeing the progress of two projects, namely, the Electricity Transmission Project (ETP) and Road Maintenance Project (RMP) by now. The $630 million deal, with Nepal chipping in $130 million, envisages the maintenance of about 300 kilometres of roads on the East West Highway and the construction of 318-kilometre-long, 400 KV transmission lines, which would benefit nearly 23 million people. Since September last year, there have been two high-level visits from the US, including by MCC Vice President Fatema Sumar in September, who had clarified that the compact was not part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, or any U.S. military strategy – a major concern of the Nepal government and the parties in Nepal. The December 14 deadline given by the U.S. government then has already been missed, and it is apparent that it can't continue with Nepal's inaction on the issue forever.
The MCC might have been ratified in the Parliament a long time back if the parties did not keep shifting their stance on the issue from time to time.
The Oli government was pushing for its endorsement when it was in power, but is singing a different tune now. And Prachanda says it cannot be ratified without amending certain clauses - which the MCC has said is not feasible at this stage - to the Nepali people while giving assurances to the US side that it would be ratified, according to the leaked joint letter written in September. And the letter itself begs the question, who is Prachanda to sign the letter, together with the Prime Minister, when he is no more than the leader of a coalition partner? There is growing support for signing the deal from all quarters, including the private sector umbrella organisations - the FNCCI, CNI and NCC. Should the deal be aborted after having been inked for political reasons - which are not very convincing to the people - it could negatively impact foreign investment as well as the attitude of the donor community on this country. The credibility of the government, the parties in the coalition and the opposition is at stake, and they must act wisely in the best interest of the country.
Focus on elderly
Although cases of coronavirus infection have drastically come down to 45,000 from a whopping 90,000 some three weeks ago, the death rate from the respiratory contagion has gone up despite the massive immunisation campaign launched across the country. As per the daily update made by the Ministry of Health and Population, more than 10 people are dying every day due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, 11,814 people have lost their lives in the past two years at a case fatality rate of 1.3 per cent.
Before the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was detected in the country some two months ago, the country had recorded only two to three deaths in 24 hours when the inoculation drive was moving at a moderate pace. Why are so many people dying every day due to the respiratory contagion in spite of the massive vaccination campaign? The Health Ministry and health experts should inform the public behind the reason of the high rate of deaths due to COV- ID-19. As per the ministry's statistics, the highest number of deaths belongs to the 60-69age group.
Therefore, the government should focus on giving vaccines to this age group, which seem to be more vulnerable compared to other age groups.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 8, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
