Ajaya Bhadra Khanal's recent column (‘Restoring democracy back to the default’, January 20) opens with a bang when he says that the constitution ‘has only served...to legitimise political malpractices’ and ends with a whimper when he ends by resorting to the hackneyed prescription of restoring a ‘functioning democracy’, whatever that means.
As things stand, Prime Minister KP Oli’s litany of vices is so long that even the late Girija Prasad Koirala seems to be a model prime minister in comparison. For instance, the Airbus widebody scandal that occurred during Oli’s tenure dwarfs Girija's Dhamija Scandal by a very wide margin. What’s more, Oli has gone on to outdistance the latter through such momentous ‘achievements’ like imposing an ill-advised and ill-conceived federalism.
The country continues to descend into an inescapable and nationwide muddle of corruption. But Oli, nonetheless, has the imagination of giving out the heart-warming slogan of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’ and the audacity to do nothing about it. The Nirmala Pant case, the Lalita Niwas scandal and the Yeti Holdings scandal only add to his ‘achievements’ as the leader of the country with an unprecedented majority in parliament. What Nepal needs is nothing less than revamping its democracy so that someone like Oli can never get to ascend the throne in Singha Durbar.
27.12°C Kathmandu
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