Amid cabinet reshuffle speculation, PM seeks ministry-wise appraisal

Oli briefed by secretaries in the presence of ministers

KATHMANDU, July 12: As cabinet reshuffle rumors make rounds, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has started receiving briefings from secretaries of all ministries to make their progress appraisal.

Many insiders said the prime minister could be lay ground for replacing some ministers while swapping others based on their performance.

While the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation remains without a minister since the death of Minister Rabindra Adhikari in a helicopter crash six months ago, the prime minister is said to be dissatisfied with the performance of a few ministers. Dissatisfied by the performance of some ministers, Oli wants to make some changes in his team, according to insiders.

Sixteen months after the formation of the government, Oli is under tremendous pressure for his failure to keep his promises of good governance and prosperity and also due to the utter failure of almost all ministries in delivering services.

Earlier, Oli's aides had stated that the prime minister could reshuffle the Cabinet once parliament endorsed the annual budget and forge consensus in the party maintaining an internal power balance. Oli has reportedly discussed with top party leaders about replacing some cabinet members.

Parliament has already endorsed the budget presented by the government and Oli is said to be mulling over replacing some of his team members, aiming to implement the government's new policies and programs with a new spirit in the context of the government facing widespread criticism regarding it performance.

As part of receiving ministry-wise appraisals about the progress made by the ministries in the past one year, Oli has started high-level consultation by inviting ministers and secretaries.

Ministers and top ministry officials were invited to the Prime Minister's Office for appraisal. Without saying anything, Oli asked the secretaries to present the progress made during this year and questioned the ministers in case of confusion about the appraisals made by the secretaries.

Ministers, secretaries, members of National Planning Commission (NPC) and the prime minister's aides were present at the meeting. Except the secretaries of the law and finance ministries, all secretaries presented the progress made by their ministries on Thursday.

“Almost all secretaries have reported to have achieved 80 percent progress. The prime minister will comment tomorrow on the briefings once the remaining secretaries present their progress reports,” said Min Bahadur Shahi, a member of the NPC, emerging from the briefing.

Government officials attending the meeting said the prime minister didn't say anything apart from asking some questions to the ministers to clear some confusions created during the presentations by the secretaries.

Minister Lal Babu Pandit, who was present in the meeting, said that the ministers would put their views after the presentation of the detailed progress report.

“Only the secretaries briefed the PM today. The remaining will brief tomorrow,'' said Pandit.