Unwilling and reluctant
The Himalayan Times
1 August 2019
Unwilling
and reluctant
Following the promulgation of the
new constitution in 2015, Nepal has entered the federal structure, with elected
governments in all the three levels in place. Federalism was greatly talked
about, using very fancy words by all the political parties, especially the
three major political parties, namely, the then UML, the NC and the then NCP-Maoists.
On the other hand, political critics used to heavily criticize them for pushing
forward this undoable concept and cast doubts about whether the federal
structure could be implemented in the real sense.
It’s been almost two years since all
the three levels of governments have been working in line with the federal
structure. However, the provincial and local level governments seem to be struggling
in performing their functions as envisaged by the constitution and in meeting
the high expectations of the people. They have not been able to function fully due
to lack of a clear organizational set-up, inadequate laws, limited staff and
resources “Flint, federalism and way forward” (THT, July 30, Page 6). There seems to be reluctance and an unwillingness
of the federal government to devolve power to the provincial governments.
The provincial governments seem
to be functioning on their own due to lack of proper laws and haphazardly spending
their budgets on luxurious and other non-productive items, may be, due to
over-enthusiasm of the elected officials, raising questions about their roles
and responsibilities. People opine that federalism in Nepal seems to have
localized corruption to a significant level. So, the time has come for the centre
to be sincere and serious in devolving power with necessary laws to the
provincial and local governments as envisaged by the constitution. Otherwise,
the implementation of federalism will remain incomplete.
Rai
Biren Bangdel
Maharjgunj
