Amid efforts to curtail Speaker’s power, Opposition targets President

Kathmandu: The Communist Party of Nepal (UML) was a principal ruling partner when the government was formed under the leadership of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on December 25. However, the eventful political twist has pushed the UML to the bench of main opposition.

Until March 9, Nepali Congress used to proclaim itself as the main opposition. But there are many reasons behind how the Nepali Congress, which used to call itself the main opposition, has become the main coalition partner and how UML has been pushed to the opposition bench. And there are many factors behind how the roles of both parties flipped all of a sudden.

While taking the vote of confidence on January 10, Prime Minister Dahal stated that he felt unease with UML and switched the coalition partnership to Nepali Congress. Now, this move has not only altered the scenario of parliament, but also triggered the parliamentary debate and discussion from changed perspective.

Recently, the lawmakers of the ruling political parties have registered an amendment proposal on the draft of ‘House of Representatives Regulations’; and this move is a part of changing scenario. The apparent and only motive of the amendment proposal is to curtail the discretionary power of the Speaker. This way, lawmakers of the ruling coalition have agreed to make amendment to such powers hitherto exercised by the speaker.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada, one of those who registered the amendment proposal, said, “The Speaker has started scheduling the meeting without informing anyone. This means non-cooperation with the government. Nothing should proceed this way. Therefore, we have registered an amendment proposal so as to bring this power under Business Advisory Committee.’

The Business Advisory Committee deliberates on how to take the meeting of the parliament forward and to make it effective. The chief whip and whip of all the parties represented in the parliament are ex-officio members in the 21-member committee. However, lawmakers of the parties who supported the amendment proposal complain that the previous meetings were held disregarding the advice.

The other lawmakers who registered the amendment proposal are Rajendra Kumar KC and Sanjay Gautam of the Nepali Congress, Madhav Sapkota, Rupa Chaudhary and Narayani Sharma of the CPN (Maoist Centre), Santosh Pariyar of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSSP), Amar Bahadur Thapa and Bhanubhakta Joshi of the Unified Socialist Party as well as Rekha Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) have registered the amendment proposal. All of these lawmakers’ bottom line is: Instead of the speaker, the Business Advisory Committee should determine the operational procedures of the parliament.

To date, such power is entitled to and exercised by the speaker alone. However, UML lawmakers say that plots are being hatched to snatch away the speaker’s power. A UML lawmaker, accusing the ruling parties’ lawmakers of foul play and said, “The Speaker is also the leader of the House of Representatives. It is not good to take away his/her rights, the honorable lawmakers of ruling parties seem to be engrossed in such a bad activity. It is better to move forward in accordance with the established practice and precedence.’

Meanwhile, the UML lawmakers seem to be aiming at the president. UML lawmaker Raghuji Panta initiated the debate in the parliament meeting held on Sunday. In Pant’s view, the President does not need any advisor and his argument is that such provision should be amended.

“The President does not need an advisor, neither does he/she need an expert”, Pant said. “Even if it is provisioned in the law, it needs to be amended”, he further said, “If we make a legal provision for the President to act as a separate power center, it will weaken our parliamentary system.’

Pant also questioned the usefulness of the post of Vice-President. “We all know that the Vice-President has no job at all”, he added, “Though we elect the Vice-President, It is not good for democracy to set up an institution that does not have any work.”

“Have the ruling parties really started to target the Speaker and the main opposition aiming at the President and the Vice-President?” NepalViews asked a UML lawmaker, and he responded by saying, ” If such is the case, it is sad. This is a mockery of democracy and parliamentary system. And we want to make it clear that even if we curtail powers, we should balance it and do it without challenging democracy and existing system. If it is right to take away the Speaker’s important powers, then why is it bad to change the provision of appointing an advisor to the President?”

It should be kept in mind that President Ram Chandra Poudel and Vice-President Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav were elected from NC and JSP respectively, while speaker Devraj Ghimire was elected from UML. And they are no longer the members of any party.

‘Curtailing the power is a sign of distrust between parties’

Former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana said that such problems have arisen due to the lack of proper coordination between the political parties. “The basis of interparty dialogue, discussion and coordination has become very weak,” he said, “I think this is the main reason behind the current problem.”

Dhungana believes that if vital posts like President, Vice-President and Speaker are not elected on the basis of political consensus, such problems will also surface in the future.

“It would have been better if the speaker and the president were elected on the basis of consensus, instead of resorting to interparty competition”, Dhungana added, “Such practice will also lead to party-to-party coordination. Whatever one may say- curtailing of power or adviser- it is nothing but an expression of distrust between the two parties or alliances.”