KATHMANDU, July 8: Concluding deliberations on the draft constitution, the full House meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) on Tuesday endorsed the proposal to distribute copies of draft constitution across the country for public feedback.
An overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the 601-member CA endorsed the proposal to give 15 days starting Thursday for collecting feedback and submitting it to the CA full house. The plenary will forward it to the CA’s Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee for preparing a report, which would be sent back to the CA full House.
The plenary will then forward it to the CA’s Constitution Drafting Committee to improve the draft based on public feedback and CA members’ views expressed during the deliberations.
The 73-member drafting committee will then convert the draft into a constitution bill and forward it to the full House. Lawmakers can register amendment proposals and once the two-thirds majority of the CA full House endorses the draft, it will be promulgated as the new constitution.
With this decision, the constitution making task has made moved a step forward toward producing the new constitution.
The CA meeting on Tuesday evening not only completed an important task but also witnessed an encouraging sign of unity among major political forces as top leaders reiterated their commitment to improve the draft based on public feedback and deliver the constitution without further delay.
Tips for hearing tough feedback
All the top leaders were of the view that despite some shortcomings in the draft, there is no alternative to producing the new constitution to institutionalize the achievements of recent political movements.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala while addressing the meeting urged one and all not to doubt whether the new constitution will adopt some of the key features such as universal principles of democracy, federalism, and inclusion.
“Rest assured that no one can stop us from embracing federalism,” said the prime minister. He also vowed to improve the draft based on lawmakers’ inputs and public feedback before finalizing it.
CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli said the new constitution will lay the ground for durable peace, stability and prosperity by ending the decade-long transition.
“There are some shortcomings in the draft. We can improve it until the last minute,” he said. “The major need of the hour is to promulgate the new constitution and focus all our energy on development activities.”
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal described the day as a historic moment. “We all know that the constitution we are producing is not as per our expectations. Many important subjects are missing,” he said. “But, we have no alternative other than producing a constitution.”
Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba proposed giving continuity to the CA for some months even after promulgation of new constitution so as to address the concerns of some dissident political parties that have opposed the decision of entrusting a commission with the task of finalizing delineation of provinces.
The dissident parties have been insisting that the CA itself should finalize the delineation and nomenclature of the provinces before dissolution of the CA.
Deuba claimed that the dissident groups can be brought on board the constitution making process based on his proposal.
Kamal Thapa, chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), however accused the major parties of limiting the CA as a rubber stamp institution just to endorse the decisions taken by a group of top leaders from major political forces.
Responding to queries and concerns of hundreds of lawmakers, who aired their views during the five-day-long deliberations, Chairman of the drafting committee Krishna Sitaula assured one and all that the draft would be improved based on their inputs.
On citizenship provision, he claimed that the draft constitution has adopted the provisions of the Interim Constitution and rubbished claims that the proposed provisions were regressive. “The provisions are adopted as it is from the Interim Constitution,” he said. Sitaula, however, was quick to add that Nepal can’t afford to make a mistake that would put the country at risk.
Sitaula was very bold in rejecting the RPP-N’s demand for referendum on secularism, republicanism and federalism.
“We are here not to raise the question on our own achievements but making the constitution to institutionalize the achievements,” he said. He claimed that there is no point in raising the first CA’s decision to overthrow monarchy to be replaced with republic since former King Gyanendra Shah himself abided by the decision.
