KATHMANDU, Sept 10: Chairman duo of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) K P Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have agreed to endorse the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact through parliament after making necessary amendments to the agreement.
In a proposal prepared to present at the party’s fifth Standing Committee meeting, the two leaders have argued that the MCC compact needs to be endorsed through parliament by clarifying some of its points in favor of Nepal’s national interests and amending to the provisions of the compact agreement as deemed necessary.
MCC won't be ratified through parliament without making necessa...
The proposal of Dahal and Oli, who is also the prime minister, comes in the wake of the government failing to endorse the MCC Compact through the federal parliament even as it was registered at the Parliament Secretariat three times amid sharp polarization within the ruling NCP.
A section of leaders including Chairman Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and Bhim Rawal have maintained that the MCC Compact is part of the US-led military strategy and should not be endorsed in its current form.
Amid sharp division within the party, the agreement on a $500 million grant offered by the US government should be endorsed through parliament, the party had earlier in February formed a three-member task force led by former prime minister Jhala Nath Khanal. The panel led by Khanal included senior party leaders Pradeep Gyawali and Bhim Rawal as members.
The task force in its report suggested endorsing the MCC Compact only after necessary revisions and amendments to clarify that none of the provisions in it are against Nepal’s national interests. The fifth meeting of the party’s Standing Committee is scheduled to hold discussion on the same report and take a final call on it.
