Government plans to increase senior citizen allowance to Rs 5,000 per month

 The government is planning to increase allowance of senior citizens as it is preparing to hold election.

While addressing his party gathering organised at Chishankhugadhi in Okhaldhunga today, deputy prime minister Ishwor Pokhrel today confirmed to increase the allowance of senior citizens to Rs 5,000 per month.

Though, the Nepal Communist party (NCP) – during the election – had promised to increase the allowance in its election manifesto, the government lacks resources due to shrinking revenue base. However, Pokharel also blamed the breakaway faction – in his own words – of ruling party opposed the plan to implement in the last fiscal year. He however, did not mentions who opposed the government plan.

But the idea of distribution of state resources – to take political benefit by any party – is the misuse of the tax paid by the people. The government is expected to bring such distributive programmes to attract more votes in the election that is has proposed for April and May. The minister also argued that the government decided to seek a fresh mandate of the people as it was cornered and barred from working smoothly. He reiterated that the government is committed to work for the development and prosperity of people.

Rural Municipal chair threatens chief administrative officer for refusing to pay for government rally

 Chair of Shailung Rural Municipality threatened chief administrative officer as the later refused to pay fare for the bus that was hired to ferry people to take part in the government rally organised last week by the Oli-led faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in Kathmandu.

Shailung Rural Municipality chair Bharat Dulal abused and threatened chief administrative officer Raju Prasad Shah after Shah refused to pay the fare of the bus used to ferry people from Dolakha to Kathmandu. Chair Dulal threatened Shah to leave the rural municipality, if he will not follow the order. Lately both the factions – Dahal-Nepal and Oli faction of ruling NCP (NCP) are competing in gathering huge mass to show their strength. They have been bringing the people from nearby districts to flex their muscle on the Kathmandu streets as the locals are not attracted towards the pro-and anti-government protests.

After he got threatened Shah filed a complaint at District Administration Office at the Dolakha district. Shah complained that chair Dulal misbehaved with him after he refused to pay bus fare that was not used for the official purpose. Most of the local governments have been misusing the funds supposed to be spend on the development activities, on their petty political interests. The tax-payers money have been lately misused in the political interest raising the question in the annual report of Office of Auditor General (OAG). The political rallies have become costly as both the factions have been ferrying people from outside the Valley in buses, and daily wage, and also lodgeing and fooding. Lack of transparency and accountability towards the people is leading towards financial indiscipline, which will also encourage the informal economy. 

On February 5, PM Oli-led faction of the NCP (NCP) had staged a mass gathering in Kathmandu bringing peoples from all over the country promising them of free two-way fare, lodgeing, fooding and also Pashupati tour. The bus had carried peoples from Dolakha district to Kathmandu for the mass gathering organised in Durbarmarg on February 5. Musing the government coffer, the Oli-faction had organised a mass gathering at DurbarMarg in Kathmandu on February 5, and yet organising another mass gathering in Butwal tomorrow.

Election Commission seeks Rs 7.79 billion to hold elections

 The Election Commission (EC) sought Rs 7.79 billion from the government to conduct the midterm elections scheduled for April 30 and May 10.

Writting a letter to the Finance Ministry, the commission today demanded the money to prepare for the mid-term poll announced by the incumbent government led by the Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

“A meeting of the commission yesterday estimated that they will need Rs 7.79 billons to conduct the midterm election of the House of Representatives (HoR) scheduled for April 30 and May 10,” a press note from the commission reads, adding that the commission demanded Rs 374 million to arrange measures necessary for the safety of the Covid-19 pandemic also. “The commission does not plan to buy any new equipment and vehicles for the midterm polls as the equipment and vehicles that it has at its disposal can be operated after necessary maintenance,” the press note reads, adding that it has developed a work procedure to hold the election and manage other election-related expenses in an economic manner in view of the fact that the midterm election is being held in the immediate aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic that left the country’s economy paralysed.

The economists, however, claim that the elections will cost the country five times more than the commission has asked for. “Since the election also will have other huge costs, the overall expenses of the elections will come to around Rs 35 billion,” said economist Dr Chandramani Adhikari.

The elections have become costly as the constituencies are bigger than the previous polls, he said, except the expenses for the commission, there are other costs for the candidate and also the political parties. “The elections have lately been very costly due to larger constituencies, and also our electoral system.”

Though the Election Commission has fixed an upper limit of the expenses for a candidate of all the political parties, the candidates must spend more than the fixed amount to win the elections, he said, adding that the mid-term polls expenses will put pressure on development expenses. “Since the government is unable to spend the development budget due to coronavirus pandemic, the Finance Ministry will be forced to transfer the unspent development budget for the elections.”

The government has – in the budget for the current fiscal year – not allocated budget for the elections in the budget as the elections will be hold every five years, and this is not the election year. However, premier Oli dissolved the House and announced the mid-term poll – against the spirit of the Constitution of the country – due to his personal rivalry with another chair of the ruling political party NCP (NCP) Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachand’ and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, both the former prime ministers.

Ruling, main opposition lawmakers not to receive Dashain allowances

 After the public uproar, the parliamentarians from ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) decided not to take Dashain allowances this year. They have also decided to deposit the money in the government’s fund established to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Issuing a press note, Nepali Congress chief whip Bal Krishna Khad said that his party’s lawmakers in federal parliament have decided to return Rs 4.32 million, which they were supposed to receive as Dashain allowances. Khad also said that they will deposit the money in the government’s fund that is set up to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Likewise, a meeting of the NCP’s parliamentary party also took a decision to deposit the money in the fund. The Dashain allowances of the NCP lawmakers in federal parliament will be deposited in the government’s Covid-19 Fund, the NCP (NCP) according to a press note from the ruling party.

After the decision drew flak, the lawmakers were forced to return the Dashain allowance, though the decision to provide them the allowance was approved by the cabinet as the Constitution bars the lawmakers to take Dashain allowance. 

The NCP and NC lawmakers’ have been forced to issue the press note after the parliamentarians faced sharp criticism on social media for receiving Dashain allowances ‘even as the country is reeling under severe crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic’.

Last week, the Federal Parliament Secretariat had distributed Dashain allowances to the lawmakers, who claimed that they came to know about the allowance after the amount was deposited in their bank account. 

Prime Minister reshuffles cabinet, Poudel becomes finance minister

 Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli reshuffled the cabinet and adding three minister in the vacant ministries.

The Prime Minister appointed Bishnu Poudel as new finance minister, whereas deputy prime minister and defence minister Ishwar Pokhrel has been removed from Defence Ministry and appointed to the minister for Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministries. But he is still the deputy prime minister. Prime Minister Oli has kept the Defence Ministry portfolio with himself.

The Finance Ministry, which was with Oli since Dr Yub Raj Khatiwada resigned earlier this month, has been given to Poudel, who is also the general secretary of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Poudel will face huge challenges as finance minister in the time of crisis. But could Poudel dare to provide any remedy – facing from within the populist-party dictum – for employment creation, low morale of private sector and battered economy. However, by appointing Poudel as finance minister the ‘politically-smart’ Prime Minister ensured his majority in his party’s secretariat. As the Prime Minister Oli reshueffled the cabinet for his own benefit, his promises that a reshuffle in his administration will be ‘based on merit, system and performance’, has seen as his other promises.

Likewise, Pokhrel also faces criticism for failing to handle the Covid-19 pandemic as the coordinator of the High-level Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre. He also faces corruption allegations in the medical equipment procurement.

The Prime Minister has also appointed Parbat Gurung – who was minister for children, women and senior citizens – as minister for communication and information technology.

Pokhrel’s removal from the Defence Ministry is largely guided by his ‘not-so-good’ relations with the Nepal Army as he dragged the national defence force into controversy over the procurement of medical equipment to fight Covid-19.

The other faces in the cabinet include Krishna Gopal Shrestha as the minister for Urban Development and Lilanath Shrestha as the minister for women, children and senior citizens. Shrestha had once switched sides to Nepal briefly but this time he is rewarded for glorifying Prime Minister Oli.

Likewise, Lilanath Shrestha had contested against Pushpa Kamal Dahal from Siraha Constituency 5 in the 2013 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections from then CPN-UML but had lost by a small margin. Shrestha and Raghubir Mahaseth are the only two leaders, who won the elections for former UML in Province 2.

The cabinet reshuffle is going to start a new feud in the ruling as the another chair of the ruling party Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal faction have been asking the Prime Minister to reshuffle the cabinet according to the recommendation of the party secretariat, but the Prime Minister reshuffled the cabinet on his own. Even party chairmen Oli and Dahal held a two-hour-long meeting on cabinet reshuffle today afternoon. The cabinet reshuffle is the Prime Minister’s prerogative, where the party has been unnecessarily trying to encroach his rights. 

“Dahal is not happy with the prime minister’s move,” according to a leader close to Dahal. “He has been trying to convince Oli for a Cabinet reshuffle as per the spirit of the recent decisions of party meetings,” the leader said, adding that Oli did not even discuss his plan to rejing the Cabinet.

Dahal had long been pressing Oli to recall all ministers and make fresh appointments based on merit and performance.

Oli to continue as Prime Minister, Dahal to get more authority as chairman

 It seems the intra-party feud in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is finally coming to an end making the Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli more powerful and another chairman – among the two – Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, giving an executive power, according to a report submitted to the chairmen duo Oli and Dahal by a taskforce.

The taskforce – formed by the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to recommend ways to settle the intra-party feud has submitted the report to Prime Minister Oli and the party's chairman Dahal today – also suggested to reshuffle the cabinet. “The cabinet reshuffle will help clean the image of the government as it has been labelled as the most corrupt one due to some ministers’ performances,” said a NCP (NCP) leaders, who was one of the members in the task force. “The reshuffle of cabinet and some chief ministers will also help satisfy senior leaders in the party,” he said, indicating the change of chief ministers of Province 1 Shankar Pokharel and Bagmati Province chief minister Dormani Poudel.

There has been lots of alleged corruption even during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic while purchasing health equipment. The health minister and defence ministers have been blamed for purchasing medical equipment through their henchmen, and it cost almost double the market price due to commission and corruption. Likewise, the finance minister has also been blamed for his incompetence in reviving the economy during the pandemic, but being involved in policy level corruption through the fiscal policy for the current fiscal year. "The taskforce has suggested inducting new faces in the cabinet and ensuring representation of all sides in the party while making political appointments to ensure appropriate power sharing,” he added.

The party's Standing Committee meeting has been deferred repeatedly after most members sought resignation of Prime Minister Oli from the both the post of prime minister and party chairman. The six-member taskforce was formed after several rounds of informal negotiations between Prime Minister Oli and Chairman Dahal.

The taskforce led by General Secretary Bishnu Paudel submitted the report at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Baluwatar this afternoon, confirmed Prime Minister's Press Advisor Surya Thapa. The taskforce led by Paudel had Shankar Pokharel, Bhim Rawal, Surendra Pandey, Pampha Bhusal, Janardan Sharma as members.

The report will be discussed in the party's Standing Committee meeting after Oli and Dahal agree on the recommendations, a Standing Committee member said, without wanting to be named. However, he also confirmed that the taskforce has suggested allowing Prime Minister Oli to lead the government for the remaining term of the current parliament and Chairman Dahal to lead the party with full authority until the party's unity general convention to be held in April.