Since the last elected government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba let the term of the local bodies lapse in 2002 through failure to hold the elections or extend their term, all the village development committees, municipalities and district development committees have been without elected representatives. The Deuba government authorised employees to run the bodies, and this lasted till the fall of the Chand government. The Thapa government stuffed most of the vacant posts with people closer to the RPP, particularly to Thapa’s faction, and the rest with others, including those who belonged to political parties in the past or were ‘stolen’ from them. For months the posts have been lying vacant following resignations by virtually all the nominees. The previous four-party government remained indecisive, as its constituents sharply disagreed over how to run the local bodies.

Against this background, the present government is reportedly all set to appoint ‘political figures from different parties,’ to the vacant posts. This measure, it is said, seeks to make service delivery ‘efficient and transparent.’ According to a report, certain political parties have been requested to provide names for possible appointment. Besides filling these elective posts with nominees, the government is also ‘working’ to revive the system of zonal commissioners — powerful posts during the Panchayat days but scrapped after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990. This, too, aims to provide ‘good governance,’ with the zonal chiefs ‘coordinating and networking with the CDOs.’ Probably, to many this revival may bring memories of the Panchayat days. But as far as the general people are concerned, it is perhaps what makes their life better that counts.

However, any attempt to give the local bodies an all-party look is unlikely to succeed, as under Thapa, because the major political parties have chosen the path of confrontation against the February 1 step. They will not cooperate with this scheme. Therefore, at most what the government could do is to pick people from some of the minor parties or in individual capacity. But it would be difficult to convince the donor community that this is a representative political arrangement. Most donors, particularly Scandinavian countries which have considerably aided efforts to strengthen local self-governance, have been displeased with the demise of the elected bodies. This has greatly hampered development work. Besides, other types of service provided by the local units to the public have suffered, along with the concept of decentralisation. The lack of genuine all-party committees may therefore cause problems of accountability as well as probable donor reluctance to provide aid.