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The article deals with the political dilemmas of ongoing peace and constitution building process of Nepal and it provides possible ways out of the topsy-turvydom. It highlights the contemporary affairs of Nepalese political culture. Specially, it prescribes the proficient ways to end all types of political impunity, undemocratic practices, and finally discuss the ways to bring out the off-track politics into peoples’ platform. The article also includes the potential roles and contributions of multifarious stakeholders that may help to conduct the Nepalese democratic polity and behavior towards to achieve sustainable peace, prosperity and national interest.
Nepal is peaceloving country but it does not mean the national polities support the dispositions of its nation and citizen. People want to see its land from the out of transition but politicians want to keep the land into long process of alteration. People mandates are to achieve sustainable peace and successful management of comprehensive peace accord-2006, but politicians want to achieve sustainable power and regime in government. People gave mandates its’ constitutional assembly’s representative to involve in peace and constitution building process, and to play productive role in effective restructuring of the nation but they are either not interested or disqualifies to perform its assigned parliamentary responsibilities and tasks. Beyond the rule, they keep parliament totally inoperative since long time, ignoring the people’s sovereignty and national interest. It has been strange that Nepalese polity is just roaming around the attraction of cabinet but not tramping to honest enforcement of peace process. Forlornly, there is unfortunate misguiding understanding among the parties that they defines its leaders’ supremacy as people’s supremacy, which has not yet even tested anywhere by any constitutional, political or administrative tools.
Now, the prime tasks of politicians are supposed to solely involve in management of the peace process and constitution building, but other than they have priorities their tasks in different ways to gain either individual or gang benefits. Consequently, the issues related to the management of cantonment based Maoist’s combatants, federalism, inclusions, and broader governance affairs are into limbo. Specially, the overall constitution building process is also being severely victimized due to the growing political impunity. Here impunity also includes the issue of unaccountable, irresponsible and deviated politics.
Sadly, Nepalese politics are not in the path of normal politics in similar to other world’s democratic polity. It needs to instant commute or redefine accordance with practical democratic doctrine. The homegrown Nepalese polity believes on impunity and unaccountability which has become core values and characters of existing Nepalese politics. Sorry to say, Nepal’s politics are becoming criminalized and everything is being accepted here in the name of parties’ supremacy. They have very wrong understanding that politicians are superior to law and even exempted from all moral and ethical values of politics. Unfortunately, they take it as a part of immunity, just because they have branded as “law maker”, whereas all Nepalese are found forced to be performed as blind, dumb and deaf to watch every wrongdoing of the so called lawmakers.
Honestly writing, they are not serious about peace process or constitution writing, so they often raise the issues that push overall peace building and national restructuring process into apparition. Every day, ruling parties as well as the opposition parties come with new issues that are neither addressed in their political manifestos nor described in inter-intra parties’ agreement or consensuses. Many of the political parties are irresponsible and tugging the nation into catastrophe.
Peoples are innocent and unable to do anything against the conventional Nepalese political culture that politicians are always superior. People have been suffering due to outlawed polity. Poor is being poorer, maimed are being more hurt, corruption is intensified, criminality is becoming hitch of daily life, murder, kidnap and physical auscultations have become routine incidents, people are dying for food, water and medicines, children are unattended and fighting for survivals, infrastructures are turning into tragedy, and impunity has become very common. It means nothing seems in order. Peoples say that it is because of transition, but it is not fully true. Transition does not mean bombardment on peace or brush aside people’s choice and national interest. Also, transition does not encourage political unaccountability and award discount from political responsibility. The degree could different but in any condition, rule of law, public and constitutional priorities should be kept always into priorities, which are mainly now successful management of peace process and constitutional building works.
Anyway, the democratic practices and personas cannot be apprehended in the name of transition for personal benefits or anarchical pursuits. Politicians should know that the democratic polity is meant a capacity of a democratic politicalsystem which need to respond to the preferences of its citizens, national interest and constitutional priority, specially to achieve sustainable peace, prosperity, development, and maintain respectable sovereignty and inter-intra dignity of the nation.
Observer fond Nepalese peace process is in comma, any time it can be collapsed or tuned into sadistic form of war. Also upcoming new constitution will be tossed in dubiety, if the polity of politics is not substantially changed accordance with the national need. Simultaneously, general public, civil society and professional organization have to change its role, if they really wish to correct the existing piteous political scenario of the nation. The conventional tools such as formal delegation, unnecessary bandh, memorandum, close-meetings, hello-interaction, rent seeking-seminar, and briefcase-workshop are found ineffective and useless in Nepalese case. The efforts have found failure to correct the existing ill-politician and corrupt-political system of rules. Therefore, new approaches of polity control need to introduce and practice in Nepalese scenario.
Firstly citizens of respective constituencies need to pressurize their respective representatives regularly and also need to ask to make written promises public about their role and preferences of work. Afterward they can force larders to present action plans compulsory along with the provision of regularly disseminating progress report among people in local level. It could also help people to judge the qualities of their representative during election. The system can be introduced in the initiative of local civic leaders, media person and nongovernmental organizations. In addition, voters need to watch and analyze the performance delivery status of their leader. It is now clear that voters’ silent syndrome has proved dangers for the national health and the people too, so it has to be break immediately. Peoples should put continuous pressure and extend warning in time to time, if they found in case deviated from the people preferences or extended commitment.
Secondly, the professional organization and civil society need to form a close circuit network in each level of political apparatus, to pressurize and warn the politician and political parties about their political commitments, peoples’ interest and national priority. They could put continuous pressure and force them to not deviate from their main agenda and priority, by providing continuous technical and advisory support. In addition, the professional organization and civic society can form a different watch groups to monitor and observe the activity of particular political parties and politicians with extraordinary responsibility.
Thirdly, the international community and diplomats could also play a crucial role to bring the ill-polity into the right democratic track. They could fund and provide all possible technical assistances, experiences and assistances to in the areas of voter empowerment and also to the particular party and politicians, if they required assistances to perform in particular issues or areas. Most of the Nepalese parties and its politicians are unaccountable; they do not have integrity, honesty, and commitment in their speeches and acts. So, they need many more direct-indirect expertise trainings, coaching, and counseling, tips while performing their role or stand in particular vital issues. However, a precaution is essential that Nepalese politician do not like so called open international interferences and imported ideas. Therefore, the international community or donor can use indirectly some Nepalese trained semi-political experts for the work, who could efficiently provide technical expertise and consultative support to particular leaders and party in regular basis without exposing the brand of particular donor and country. Such experts may require also extra ordinary qualities that might have broader access and closeness with respective politician, parties and top brass bureaucrats.
The Nepal based diplomats can constitute joint task forces whose main responsibility should to monitor and pressurize continuously to the particular parties and politician about their extended national and international commitments. They could use their donation’s agreement provisions as tools of pressure too. They could highlight about the Nepal’s national priority and peoples’ interest without prejudice while dialoging, negotiating and meeting with particular political parties and politicians about the issues of mutual interest and other related affairs. Besides, some negative diplomatic tools for bad-politicians may develop in symbolic manner to bar diplomatic privileges and immunities such as visa denial, non-invitation, diplomatic desolate, no-funding, no-moral support, access of denial from diplomatic community and international participation etc. may also use to control the unaccountable and undemocratic politician and parties by developing effective qualitative and quantitative parameters to create possible threat on them.
Fourthly, Of course, Nepal has also some good politicians and people in every party with ideal political background, so they also need to now unite and sacrifice for the nation. They have to be stand beyond the parties’ and individual wrongs interest, if found harmful for the national and citizens’ health. In their respective party, they have to make companion and movement against bad polity and political culture. They could pressurize respective leading groups to develop clear standard and ethical parameters for political role, duties, responsibilities and code of conduct about morale, professional and social life.
Specially, a high level independent internal powerful commission needs to constitute to monitor the legacy, legitimacy and lawful performances of political leaders. Such commission will have the rights to warn the politicians in every party, most of the politicians are very corrupt and not even transparent in many ways that have been already proved by Election Commission of Nepal, where many politicians, and political parties has not yet submitted their income-expenditure details besides its’ legal provisions. In cabinet, parliament and also in respective institutions of many institutions, where the leaders are supposed to submit their full properties detail, but they often disobey such legal provision. So, the respective authorities could develop some legal provisions that such politician parties or politicians should automatically suspended and may not be considered further illegible to participate in political process or power sharing till it complete all legal formalities. Additionally, the repeated wrongdoing may be registered and can be declare them nationally as permanent disqualification for political ineligibility. It can be also done though constitution amendments and other laws related to political election, appointment, nomination. Such wrong people should not be eligible for any public post or responsibility.
Fifthly, the culture of disqualifying the disqualified is urgent need in Nepalese scenario for protecting the qualified leaders in rational politics and polity of Nepal. The main fascinating crux of democratic polity is to honor the people’s sovereignty and supremacy at all time, commitment and honest actions towards fulfill the peoples’ interest and meaningful devotion to achieve national preferences in democratic manner, otherwise democracy will no longer sustain and will transform into “criminolocracy”.
It is really sad to illustrate the most of the Nepalese politicians are ineligible and disqualifies for politics, if we test them by using empirical norms and indicators. Nepalese democracy and politics are becoming worse and worse. Unaccountability and irresponsibility has become the major part of political cultures and it has long rooted in Nepalese polity. It is because majorities of politicians are belongs from the unqualified category, so it s time to revolt and ask politicians to redefine the social, moral, political and professional values and standard of politician and its parties. Hence, Nepalese need to put strong pressure to constitute immediately a nonpolitical experts’ constitutional high level commission, who may provide full rights and responsibility to judge and take immediate action against guilty or bad-activity or unfair-roles of the political parties and politician. The commission should assign enough judicial power to look at the rationale complains against them. Indeed, the commission should have enough authority to conduct necessary investigation, take into custody for investigation or take any necessary urgent action against the culprits, if found well-enough proofs of any wrongdoings, undemocratic, criminality, illegal or illegitimate activity or performance. The commission may provide the full judicial rights to disqualify any politicians for future political career, if enough evidences presented against. Also, some compensatory provisions may introduce if performance, decisions, or roles of particular political leaders or parties causes to hit on the personal, social, economical, or institutional losses.
Lastly, it is also a crucial time for bureaucrats to rethink about its conventional theology of impartiality, commitment, neutrality and peoples’ centric attitude with high professionalism in civil service. The bureaucrats now need to open their eyes about their legal, professional and legitimated roles. People accuse that politicians are bad because of bad-bureaucrats; they are somehow master of forged-politicians and mastermind for criminalizing the politics. The bureaucrats are also responsible in some extend to degrade the political-standards of Nepal. Therefore, civil servants and its professional organizations need to contribute to deal with the contemporary and crucial issues of political pathos. It will helpful to enforce effective implementation of comprehensive peace accord and constitution building process. It is believed that bureaucrats are closest kith and member of their kitchen cabinet, so they have enough opportunity to assist, watch, guide, and observe the politicians and political parties and to prevent from any wrongdoings. It is believes that the senior bureaucrats are often behind the scene. They design the roadmap for the huge corruption and criminal events. The politicians just perform direct leadership at the end of planning and preparations.
Therefore, it is times for all bureaucrats to contribute for its nation, national preferences, and peoples’ interest and also for the future generation. Please come all of us with honest minds and commitments, and start struggle against the corrupt and criminal politicians. Let’s be unite and stairs a fresh protest and warm them to be careful in due time, otherwise any actions may occurs against the enemy of the nation. In general understanding, bureaucrats are the major authority that can easily collected the required proofs against disqualified politicians and parties to disqualify them legally and remove permanently from Nepalese political structure; who have been fouling the politics and exploiting the nation as an octopus. Let’s starts at least cognitive movement today from ourselves to clean political contamination and contribute to establish sustainable peace, harmony, democracy and prosperity in the Nation. Let’s join our hand-in- hand and stands to contribute to the voice of neo-reform and transubstantiate the existing polluted polity into people’s centric democratic polity.
(Mr. Pushkar is a Peace and Conflict Management Expert and Under Secretary of Nepal Government, Email: khpushkar@gmail.com)
