Get down to main task

With the cabinet partially expanded, the UML-Maoist coalition should now get down to its main task of facilitating conclusion of the peace process and constitution-writing. Unfortunately, the coalition members are still embroiled in disputes among themselves and in internal party disputes. Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal has failed to induct additional ministers into the cabinet from his own party. And the problem in the UCPN(Maoist) seems even more serious. Following intense dispute within his party, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal nominated only four ministers, though his party has been given eleven ministries and as many as 22 Maoist ministers (including state and assistant ministers) can join the government.



Chairman Dahal is finding it hard to maintain a balance among the three factions in his party, including the one he leads, when it comes to distributing the ministries. Each of the rival factions is vying to send in more ministers and is demanding the plum ministries. The third likely coalition partner-- Madhesi People’s Rights Forum-Nepal -- has its own problems. In public it says that it will join the government only if the Khanal government shows commitment to concluding the peace process, writing the constitution and addressing Madhesi issues. However, behind the scenes, the party is bargaining for more ministries and for the plum ones.



Prime Minister Khanal must quickly address such feuding that is already undermining him and his government. The coalition is Khanal and Dahal’s baby and they must take special responsibility for giving it a final shape, making it presentable to the public (in terms of the faces in the cabinet) and rendering it functional. Khanal and Dahal must realize that they have a huge stake in making this coalition work. They cannot trot out any lame excuse about internal party divisions for the lackluster beginnings. The public is in no mood for that excuse. What people want is that the leaders promptly sort out the problems-- for which only they are responsible-- and get down to the task of working on the peace process and writing the constitution.



If Khanal and Dahal remain entangled in their respective parties and within the coalition, they won´t have the moral standing to reach out to the other parties, which they have already angered and distanced by signing a secret seven-point pact, and whose support is crucial for the peace process and constitution-writing. Unless the UML and Maoists sort out their internal difficulties and come clean over their intentions regarding the seven-point deal, they cannot win the confidence of the opposition parties -- Nepali Congress and key Madhesi parties. This will not only harm the peace process and constitution-writing but also raise serious questions about the continuing relevance of this coalition.

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