Valley
Plan to make PMO model institute lost in the shuffle
In December 2014, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) released a 13-page guideline detailing measures it has taken for “better governance” and aiming to make the PMO the “Centre of Excellence” so that other ministers and offices will emulate its working style.Anil Giri
In December 2014, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) released a 13-page guideline detailing measures it has taken for “better governance” and aiming to make the PMO the “Centre of Excellence” so that other ministers and offices will emulate its working style.
But two years on, no concrete headway has been made.
Officials blame last year’s earthquake for the failure to implement the idea, as they had to shift the office.
The decisions taken two years ago, as part of reform measures, included the provision of not deputing temporary employees to sensitive divisions at the PMO and barring PMO officials from attending seminars, meetings and trainings that are not related to the PMO.
“No progress has been made so far,” said an official at the PMO requesting anonymity. “In fact the trend of going on junket has sharply increased.” Officials admit that they don’t have much of an institutional memory on the decision to make the PMO the “Centre of Excellence”.
And now they are reinventing the wheel and trying to put together a strategy “to improve the working style and efficiency of the PMO”.
Mahesh Dahal, secretary at the PMO, is preparing another document on how to make the PMO “more effective in the changed context”.
“I don’t know much about what had transpired then; I need to check,” said Dahal.
Duplication of work is a chronic problem as the administration changes.
“Until I was in office, I had tried to maintain financial discipline, transparent working style, paperless office, results-oriented administration and other several initiatives,” said former chief secretary Leela Mani Poudyal, who first took the initiative to make the PMO an effective institution. The PMO is a key body at the centre responsible for executing policy, ensuring Cabinet and coordinating with line ministers and other relevant authorities.
Officials said prime ministers hardly spend time at the office. Former prime minister Sushil Koirala was known for taking decisions from Baluwatar. And incumbent Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli seems to be following suit, said officials, as PM Oli too prefers to carry out even official businesses from Baluwatar.
“That also weakened the importance and gravity of the PMO,” said a government secretary, adding that only chief secretary and secretary at the PMO alone cannot steer the PMO.
“If the prime minister comes to office regularly, it will promote transparency in bureaucracy, and record keeping of the PM’s meetings can be effective,” said Poudyal.