Oppn parties oppose ordinance, spark corruption accusations
KATHMANDU, Feb 1: Lawmakers from the opposition parties heated up the first meeting of Parliament’s winter session on Friday by protesting against the recently proposed ordinances and demanding probes into corruption cases involving leaders of the ruling coalition partners.
Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) set the tone for the meeting by firstly disrupting the schedule of the House of Representative (HoR) meeting followed by a brief boycott of the meeting.
The RSP MPs had initially requested an emergency time to speak on the issue of RSP Chairman Rabi Lamichhane's suspension from the post of MP. Speaker Devraj Ghimire had said that emergency time would not be available in the first meeting, stating that time was given on a party basis. As a result, the meeting was disrupted for about half an hour. Following Speaker Ghimire’s decision to continue the meeting, the RSP MPs boycotted the meeting and walked out for 15 minutes.
RSP’s brief boycott was entailed by an address from Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and speeches from leaders of the ruling coalition partners. PM Oli reiterated that he will not commit corruption. He even challenged opposition leaders to bring forward evidence of his involvement in corruption, if any such evidence exists.
“I say again, I will not allow corruption and I will not commit it myself,” he said, “If anyone has the guts, let them bring evidence of corruption in any context.”
Following their speeches, the leaders from the opposition parties ignited the house floor with rejection of the recently proposed and subsequently tabled six ordinances and demanded probe into the corruption cases where even leaders of the ruling parties are implicated.
Chief Whip of the main opposition party CPN (Maoist Centre), Hitraj Pandey, stated that the government's move of introducing ordinances without withdrawing bills that are in various parliamentary committees for discussion was not appropriate. He claimed that the ordinances were introduced to circumvent the parliament in the lawmaking process.
“'The ordinances have been introduced in the name of speeding up the lawmaking process,” he said, “The government is simply aiming to minimize the role of MPs in the Parliament.”
Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Rajendra Lingden stated that the government is trying to bypass Parliament by attempting to operate through the ordinances.
Lawmaker Lingden replied to PM Oli’s challenge by accusing the leaders of the ruling coalition of being involved in corruption cases and protecting other corrupt individuals. “It seems like the government is involved in corruption and protecting the corrupt,” he said.
Vice Chairman of the RSP, Dr Swarnim Wagle, said that the formation of a parliamentary probe committee was essential to investigate all issues of corruption and embezzlement that occurred so far. He also underlined the need for the formation of a high level judicial commission so that the income and property of all those holding public posts could be investigated.
“RSP will continue its demand for the formation of such a commission under the chairmanship of a former chief justice or justice based on the Investigation Commission Act,” he said.
Similarly, the HoR reshuffled a few parliament committees with changes in responsibility and transfer of three members. Lawmaker Ranjita Shrestha has been assigned responsibility at the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resource, while lawmaker Kalpana Chaudhary has been transferred to the Finance Committee from the Infrastructure Committee and lawmaker Durlav Thapa from the Industry and Commerce Committee to the Labour and Consumers Rights Committee.
The next meeting of HoR is scheduled for February 6.