The mass gathering at the Parliament Square attended by some 600 people, including world renowned mountain climbers, government ministers, private stakeholders, non-resident Nepalis, international guests, media persons and others, was unique as seldom does an event of such a magnitude is held in Europe. Just the fact that so many Nepali flags were seen in the heart of an important city rejuvenated the pride in all those Nepalis who marched for those two hours in Copenhagen.
Besides this, however, the event, as evident in most government-led international events, was ripe with mismanagement and negligence on the part of the organizers and coordinators. First and foremost, the team that left from Nepal on Dec 8 with Forest Minister Deepak Bohara was a jumbo one with 69 members in total. Needless to say, the last minute addition of unnecessary members from the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) and National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) added to the tension and adjustment problems there.
The Ministry has claimed that of the 69, 54 were sponsored from Save the Himalayas Fund and 15 traveled on self-pay, including Bohara’s wife and grandson. Leaving aside a few members of the team like the coordinator of Nepal Tourism Year 2011, Yogendra Shakya, and President of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), Ang Tsering Sherpa, traveling, accommodation and food cost till Dec 13 was borne through the Fund. Five cabinet ministers – tourism, environment, forest, finance and culture – were put up at the five-star Scandic hotel in Copenhagen. President of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Pashupati Shumsher Rana too was in Copenhagen for the event.
The responsibility to manage the group’s stay was apparently handed over to the President of Non-Resident Nepali Association of Denmark, Som Nath Sapkota, and a research fellow at Copenhagen Arun Rizal. Some 48 people, which included 29 summiteers, five media persons (including this scribe), six NTNC staff, two artists, one expert, and five MoFSC officials, were put up at a Tourist Hotel near the central station at Copenhagen. The lack of coordination became obvious when the team members were asked to share tiny rooms among four or five, or even more. There were only two rooms in the hotel with attached bath. There were two female journalists, one female artist and 10 young women summiteers from the Inclusive Everest Expedition 2008.
The Ministry has lately made public a budget of $124,593.63 as its overall cost of the event. It has claimed that it has a commitment of $124,635.14 from donors like World Bank, DfID, UNDP, WWF-Nepal, and other private agencies of the country. The Fund now has a balance of $41.51. However, it is important to remember that the Ministry has only collected $95,175.68 as actual income through contribution from NMA ($39,189.19), Danish embassy ($27,027.03), Travel Agents Association of Nepal ($13,513.51), NRNA ICC through its President Jiba Lamichhana ($7000), Nepalis in Denmark ($810), and Green Venture ($1,351.35). It has claimed that even Minister Bohara himself contributed $5,405.41 and $878.38 from ‘other support’ (name not disclosed). Between UNDP, DfID, WWF, Hotel Association of Nepal, Union Finance and Buddha Air, the Ministry is yet to collect $29,459.46. The World Bank, on the other hand, had committed to look after the logistics of the main event of Dec 11 (stage, sound, light, meal, tent, etc). It has not been disclosed how much the Bank contributed in monetary terms.
Why is all this important? It would be better to remember that Minister Bohara has claimed that on Rs 1 as a token amount would be spent on the event from the state coffer. However, it is unclear as to whether the donors are contributing to the Fund as a separate event or will the development assistance be used. Minister Bohara has claimed that it is not included in the donors’ annual grant assistance. But unless the promised fund is given, no one can say for sure whether the events would cost the development fund dearly.
Second, it is high time that the government officials, including the cabinet ministers, realized the futility of making foreign visits with jumbo teams that end up making a mess of things. How difficult is it for leaders who make visionary plans to deploy and choose people to do right jobs? It should strike them that such visits depict the standard and prestige of the country itself and its politicians. Unfortunately, our politicians choose conveniently to put behind the basic standards required to make official trips abroad. This is now evident from the 38-member team that PM Nepal brought to Copenhagen along with him. Only four members of the team were allowed in the main plenary of the COP-15 summit.
To add to the mockery, majority of the PM’s team members, including the journos, could not even get registration at the Bela Centre, the venue of the COP-15 meeting. It did not even strike the PM’s advisors or the embassy that accreditation is a prerequisite to attend any UN summit.
Third, if there were enough fund to support the event, question arises as to why compromises were made for the comfort of the group members and if the problem was the fund itself, why were unnecessary members included in the team first? Minister Bohara had promised in COP that those responsible for mismanagement and chaos would be penalized but the same people were seen around him there and now back home.
There is also a message for the donors in this. While the donors jump at every government request to aid such events, it is their duty as well to ensure and check where the finances is actually being spent.
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