Deuba, Dahal excel at playing hooky

PHANINDRA DAHAL

KATHMANDU, SEP 29

Political leaders across the party lines never tire of emphasising the need to bring out the new constitution on time. Their poor attendance in the Constituent Assembly (CA), however, belies their commitment.

Consider this. More than one-third of the CA members were always absent in the meetings held by the assembly in its two-year tenure. The attendance of the top political leaders was the worst, according to a policy paper released last week by the Kathmandu-based Martin Chautari, a think tank.

The paper, “Attendance and Participation in the Constituent Assembly,” asks the political leadership to make a firm commitment against the insidious practice of absenteeism, which has badly hurt the CA process. Examining the attendance register maintained by the CA during its 101 meetings held in the past two years, the study has revealed that the average attendance rate of the CA members in the period was 63 percent.

Senior Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba has the worst record. He has attended only two meetings. Chairman of the UCPN (Maoist) Dahal, who never tires of waxing eloquent on the need for a new progressive constitution, is the second worst offender. He has attended only seven meetings. The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Loktantrik) Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, who has participated in only 10 meetings, is the third worst offender.

Party-wise, Maoists again look to be the worst offender among the major parties. The record shows 66 percent average attendance for UML, 63.51 for NC and 62.17 for Maoists. The policy paper states that more than half of the CA members of the MJF (Loktantrik) and MJF were absent in the CA sittings at any given time while Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and Sadbhawna Party had their attendance records at 60.71 percent and 40.59 percent, respectively. Nepal Rastriya Party, which has a single representative in the CA via the proportional representative system, has the highest average attendance of all the political parties (88.12 percent).

At the individual level, Agni Kharel, of the CPN-UML, has outstanding attendance. He tops the participation list with 97 percent attendance in the CA meetings. Man Bahadur Mahato and Laxman Prasad Ghimire of the Nepali Congress were a close second-with 96 percent attendance. Next come Rajendra Kumar Khetan (ML) and Nilambar Acharya (NC) with 94 percent. Maoist leaders Baburam Bhattarai, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Krishna Bahadur Mahara, CPN-UML leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum leaders Upendra Yadav and Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta all fare badly — with their attendance rate below 30 percent.

Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel rests on relatively firmer ground, with an attendance rate of 49.5 percent.

Some prominent leaders (the top-level leaders were mentioned above) are hovering round a passable 50-percent mark: They include Ram Sharan Mahat, Bhim Rawal, Pampha Bhusal, Hisila Yami, Prakash Sharan Mahat, Amik Sherchan, Mahantha Thakur, Shankar Pokharel, Shekhar Koirala, Arzoo Deuba, Shalikram Jamakattel.

“Reasons behind the low attendance of the top leadership are clear - intra and inter-party power struggles are given priority over the writing of the constitution. The cause of low attendance at lower levels is more complicated,” says Seira Tamang, Chairperson of the Martin Chuatari, who carried out the research. “The reasons at the lower level are the issues of lack of experience, language issues, certain levels of knowledge, etc.”

A directly elected CA member, who is not named but quoted in the report, has said that he was in his constituency for 244 days in the two-year term of the CA “not counting the 55 days or so spent in the travel.” 

Chairman of the Constitutional Committee (CC) Nilambar Acharya said the negligence on attendance reflects the attitude of the political parties towards the new constitution. “Apart from the full house, the attendance of leaders is not encouraging at the CA committees,” he says.

Acharya attributes this lackadaisical attitude of the political leadership especially that of major parties, towards the CA process to the assembly’s failure to meet its two-year deadline for drafting the new constitution. “Other CA members have done their bit. Now we have lingering issues that should be decided by the leadership of the major parties. Until that happens, the differences will persist.”