Nepal: Promulgating A New Constitution By February 2015

The constituent assembly (CA) has accepted all the work done by its predecessor, and owned it as its own. It has paved the way for starting from the point where the previous CA had left in crafting a new constitution. The current CA has set up five committees to expedite the crafting of a new constitution. The work done by the previous CA was sent to the respective committees for actions. The political leaders have to settle the disputed issues such as a system of governance, federalism with identity or without, number of provinces, and an electoral system. Political leaders have not been in a hurry to build a consensus on these issues even though they have been parroting to promulgate a new constitution within a year. So, they have not bothered to talk to the CPN-Maoist leaders that have been insisting on holding a roundtable conference on crafting a new constitution. However, the Business Advisory Committee of the CA prepared a calendar of operation for promulgating a new constitution by mid February 2015. The CA passed it on Friday, April 4, 2014 by the majority votes.

Top leaders of NC, CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist sat together at the Baluwatar official prime ministerial residence on March 26, 2014, and they agreed on working together following the four-point agreement and the seven-point agreement. They also agreed on reviving a ‘high level political mechanism’ for coordinating the crafting of a new constitution, and for completing the peace process. Madhesi political parties have some confusion about which party or who should represent them in the ‘high level political mechanism.’ The top leaders agreed on not letting Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-Nepal) in the ‘high level political mechanism.’ RPP-Nepal has secured 24 slots in the constituent assembly (CA). The total number of the Madhesi slots in the CA would be 41 if they were to unite and go together. (Source: gorkhapatra, March 27, 2014)

At the meeting of the top leaders of NC, CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist held at the Baluwatar official residence of the prime minister on March 27, 2014, they agreed on taking the issues settled and unsettled in the previous CA to the session of the CA for acceptance following the rules of the CA of 2014 (2070). Concerning the reviving of the ‘high level political mechanism’, leaders of NC and CPN-UML have been disputing with the leader of UCPN-Maoist that has been insisting on having the leadership of the ‘high level political mechanism.’ Leaders of NC and CPN-UML have been for rotating the leadership whereas the leader of UCPN-Maoist has stated that NC and CPN-UML have the representation in the CA, so, the leadership of the ‘high level political mechanism’ should go to the UCPN-Maoist. Consequently, leaders have not been able to decide who should lead the ‘high level political mechanism.’ (Source: gorkhapatra, March 28, 2014)

Speaking at the meeting of the Legislature-Parliament on March 25, 2014, majority of the lawmakers bashed the government for its sloppy working style and they doubted whether the government would make much progress in preparing the draft of a constitution within the next six months, and in issuing it in a year's time. Taking time from Speaker Subas Chandra Nemwang in the parliament, the MPs expressed dissatisfaction over the tardy progress in the constitution writing, and the government's half-hearted working style. The lawmakers said that the shoddy work of the government had caused anger and despondency among the common folks. Saying it was against the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Accord, they objected to the government's move to reactivating the conflict-era cases, as the revival of the conflict era cases might deal a blow to democracy. Agni Prasad Sapkota of UCPN-Maoist rapped the government for not showing the concern and willingness to write a constitution causing despondency and anger among the common folks. He said that his party had been flexible to the maximum extent for the constitution writing but his party would hit as a thunderbolt if the constitution writing process were to delay. He demanded the government introduce a bill on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Commission of Inquiry on Disappearances at the earliest. Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Narahari Acharya informed the House that the government was preparing to table a bill on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Commission on Inquiry on Disappearances in the Parliament in deference to the Supreme Court order ofJanuary 2 to this effect. Minister Acharya also pointed out the need for additional political consultations and discussions on these bills so as to avert any political and legality questions on the formation of these commissions. (Source: RSS news on the gorkhapatraonline.com, March 26, 2014)

On Friday, March 28, 2014, a meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) unanimously endorsed the proposal for owning up the both disputes and agreements reached during the constitution drafting process in the erstwhile CA. With the endorsement, the concept papers already agreed upon would be sent to the Constitution Drafting Committee while those disputed ones would be sent to the Constitutional-political Dialogue Committee for building a consensus on these matters. General Secretary of the CA Secretariat tabled the proposal at the CA meeting following the decision of a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on Thursday, March 27, 2014. The major political parties had signed off a four-point deal last month to transfer the major tasks accomplished by the erstwhile CA to the current CA in view of the need to promulgate a new statue within a year. (Source: myrepulica.com, March 28, 2014)

The meeting of the CA held on Friday, March 28, 2014 set up five committees such as 1) Constitutional-political Dialogue And Consensus Committee, 2) Constitution Documents Study and Determination Committee, 3) Constitution Drafting Committee, 4) Civil Relations And Constitution Suggestion Committee, 5) Capacity Enhancement and Resources Management Committee. The Constitutional-political Dialogue And Consensus Committee has 71 members including the top leaders of all political parties. The Constitution Documents Study and Determination Committee also has 71 members. The CA rules of 2014 (2070) have made the provision for having 73 members on these two committees. The Constitution Drafting Committee has 68 members. The Civil Relations And Constitution Suggestion Committee, and the Capacity Enhancement and Resources Management Committee have 178 and 177 members respectively. The man listed by the police as the most wanted one, and the main criminal involved in the Janakapur bomb incident Sanjay Shah also was included as the member of the Constitution Documents Study and Determination Committee. (Source: gorkhapatra, March 29, 2014)

The National Cooperatives' Federation held a three-day national convention in Kathmandu, and came out with the 11-point declaration on March 28, 2014. One of the declarations stated that initiatives would be taken for making provision in the constitution for ensuring sustainable economic development and social justice through cooperatives, formulating different Acts on the cooperatives, taking initiatives for making the existing Acts, laws, rules and regulations and tax provisions cooperatives-friendly, and running the cooperatives as per the cooperatives' norms, values and principles. (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com, March 29, 2014)

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the second district convention of CPN-Maoist of Surkhet in Surkhet on March 30, 2014, chairman of CPN-Maoist Mohan Vaidhya charged the current government with being power hungry and being under the guidance of the foreign power, and the government had not focused on the people. He also charged his former colleagues Prachanda and Baburams with tricking him to believe them, and consequently, the revolution remained unfinished. He also said that his party would launch a movement but would not take up arms; the sort of movement remained to be decided. He said that the current CA would not be able to craft a people-oriented constitution; any constitution crafted sidelining the CPN-Maoist would not be acceptable to his party. (Source: gorkhapatra, March 31, 2014)

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the fourth district convention of CPN-Maoist of Tanahu in Damauli on March 29, 2014, general secretary of CPN-Maoist Ram Bahadur Thapa said that the federalism would end if the elections to the local governments were to hold. He also said that holding elections to the local governments was the attempt to finish of the federalism achieved by the people’s movement. He said that the need was for launching a movement larger than the previous one, as the people had been deprived of their rights, and the people’s inspirations had not been met, yet. (Source: gorkhapatra, March 31, 2014)

Speaking at a face-to-face program held in Kathmandu on March 31, 2014, chairman of CA Subas Nemwang again called on the government and the political leaders to give a full shape to the CA as the constitution writing process began. "We are coming across difficulties in course of carrying out work as the Assembly (CA) is yet to get full shape. I urge the government and the top leaders at the political level to pick the 26 CA members to be nominated by the government," he said. The CA chair also drew the attention of the political parties to select the chairmen of the CA's different committees. He opined that the thematic committee of the CA paved the way for having the participation of the parties outside the CA in the constitution writing process. He hoped that parties including the CPN-Maoist would take part in the constitution writing. Urging all not to doubt constitution within a year, Nemwang said that the political parties promised to the people that the constitution would be promulgated within a year and that he was confident of this would be done. (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com, April 1, 2014)

Speaking at a face-to-face program held in Kathmandu on March 31, 2014, chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal said that discussions were ongoing to find out how the political parties remaining outside of the CA could be brought on board the constitution writing process. He also expressed the confidence in a new constitution promulgating within a year after building the unity, consensus and collaboration among the political parties in the CA and those political parties remaining outside of it. He said that nobody should undermine the mandate given by the people through the historic CA elections at any time. He also pointed out the need for focusing on and moving ahead the constitution writing work keeping the people's mandate in mind. (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com, April 1, 2014)

Speaking at the news conference held by the Revolutionary Journalists’ Association in Bharatpur on March 31, 2014, senior leader of UCPN-Maoist Dr Baburam Bhattarai said that only the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on Inquiry on Disappearances could settle the conflict-era incidents. Dr Bhattarai arrived at Bharatpur to attend a program held by the Fujel Incident Affected Families. He said that the conflict-era incidents including the Krishna Adhikari case could not be resolved through what he called piecemeal arrests. He said that the process of forming the commissions reached the final phase through the parliament making legislation. He said that the TRC and the Commission on Inquiry on Disappearances would be formed within 10 to 12 days and an environment of reconciliation would be built in the society with the investigation into the truth and facts of the conflict-era incidents. If there were any grave incidents of crime against humanity, they would be dealt with following the law, he added. Also former Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai objected to the arrests of some cadres concerning the incidents happened during the conflict period saying it was done in a piecemeal manner. Stating that 12,000 out of the 15,000 people killed in the decade long People's War from February 13, 1996 to November 21, 2006 were the Maoists. He also said that it was better to settle these conflict-era cases rather than reviving them. "The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML were in the government at that time, against who do we file cases," he asked. (Source:gorkhapatraonline.com, April 1, 2014)

Speaking at a news conference held by the Nepal Press Union of Kanchanpur in Mahendranagar on March 31, 2014, Former Prime Minister also senior leader of NC, Sher Bahadur Deuba said that elections to local bodies would be held through a consensus and collaboration among all political parties. Senior leader Deuba said that local polls were not possible in May 2014 without a consensus among all parties. He said that the date of the local elections was not set, as a consensus was not built among all political parties on this matter, yet. The former Prime Minister said that his party was committed to meeting the promises made during the election campaigns for promulgating a new constitution within a year. Senior leader Deuba said that the current CA would promulgate a new constitution within the slated time by resolving all the remaining disputed issues. Responding to a query, the NC senior leader argued that the High-Level Political Committee (HLPC) would play a vital role in the constitution writing. Senior leader Deuba said, "The HLPC plays role of coordinator between the Constituent Assembly and the government." (Source: RSS news on gorkhapatraonline.com, April 1, 2014)

Speaking at the cadres' meeting held at Kusma of the Parbat district on March 31, 2014, Deputy Prime Minister also holding the portfolio of Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development Prakashman Singh said that a new constitution and local bodies' elections were the first priority of the government. Minister Singh said that holding local polls by building a consensus immediately was necessary, as corruption cases had increased at the local governments in absence of local representatives. The Deputy Prime Minister said, "Local bodies' election will be held through consensus of all political parties. Nepali Congress will fulfill its promises made during the elections for promulgating the new constitution within a year. We will play role to promulgate a new constitution as per the promise." He said that the High-Level Political Committee (HLPC) would play a significant role in constitution writing. (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com, April 1, 2014)

Founder Chairman of Human Rights and Peace Society Krishna Pahadi went on a hunger strike at the Shanti Batika in Tundikhel starting on March 31, 2014 citing the government was disinterested in ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Pahadi went on a fast-onto-death after the government did not pay any interest to ratify this Statute even though he submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister and ministers on March 29, 2014 urging the government for the same. Pahadi told RSS that every democratic country should approve the Statute as the International Criminal Court was an independent international body, which could bring any person involved in different crimes including crimes taking place in course of conflict and the crimes against humanity to judicial custody. One hundred and twenty two countries of the world have approved the Rome Statute so far. Although the Statute was to be submitted to the Prachanda-led government on February 5, 2009 for its approval, it could not be done so. He said that every successive government after the Prachanda-led government had given assurances of approving the Statute, but it had not been done so far. Pahadi also had gone on a hunger strike in 1991, 1997 and 2000 for the protection of human rights. (Source: gorkhapatraonline.com, April 1, 2014)

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the first district convention of the Okhaldhunga district in Okhaldhunga on April 1, 2014, secretary to CPN-Maoist Dev Gurung charged the parliamentary political parties with holding the local elections set up under the unitary system to replace the federalism; they had been doing so under the foreign guidance. He also accused the parliamentary parties of ending the people’s army using Prachanda and Baburam as tools. He said that the government had invited conflict playing the drama of the local elections. He suggested the government to dissolve the CA, and call a roundtable conference to craft a people’s constitution. He also demanded to dissolve the current parliamentary system, and set up a system that would be inclusive of all underprivileged people. He said that the parliamentary system could not craft a constitution; so, the government should dissolve the CA otherwise all the nationalist parties together would launch street protests. (Source: gorkhapatra, April 2, 2014)

At the meeting held on Thursday, April 3, 2014, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the CA decided a 10-point calendar of operation of completing a new constitution by mid February of 2015. According to the calendar of operation, all CA committees would have their chairmen elected by the end of April 2014, the Constitution Documents Study and Determination Committee would study the documents prepared by the previous CA and then submit a full or partial report on it to the CA by mid June 2014; then the Constitutional-political Dialogue And Consensus Committee has the time until mid September 2014 to build a consensus on all disputed issues; if it were not able to build a consensus on those issues it would submit a report on the matters to the CA for decisions; by the mid November 2014, the Constitution Drafting Committee would give the final shape to the first draft of a new constitution, and then publish it in the State Gazette for the feedback from the common folks; Civil Relations And Constitution Suggestion Committee would prepare a work plan on collecting the feedback from the people; incorporating the feedback from the people in the first draft of a new constitution by the mid January 2015, the Constitution Drafting Committee would submit it to the CA; then, the CA members would discuss one Article after another of the drat constitution; and by the mid February 2015, all the members of the CA would sing off the new constitution, and the chairman would certified it; then the president would signed it off, and promulgate it. (Source: gorkhapatra, April 4, 2014)

A system of governance, federalism with identity or without, number of provinces, and an electoral system had been the main areas of contention among the political parties in the past. NC and CPN-UML had been deadly against the federal provinces with identities whereas UCPN-Maoist and the Madhesi front had been for the identity based federal provinces. Similarly, NC had been against the presidential system whereas the Maoists had been for it. CPN-UML wanted a directly elected prime minister. The political parties also had the difference of opinions on the number of provinces, and an electoral system. They could not build a consensus on these matters causing the failure in promulgating a new constitution in the past.

Political leaders have been parroting to promulgate a new constitution within a year but they have not been in a hurry to open discussions on the contentious issues among the political parties not to mention building a consensus on these issues. ‘Promulgating a constitution within a year’ would soon be a joke, as the political leaders particularly those in power had continued to say such thing without considering so many months that had passed since the elections to a new CA held in November 2013. They might continue to say so even after a year.

Political leaders including the prime minister have been saying that they would bring on board the political parties outside of the current CA for crafting a new constitution. However, they have not bothered to talk to the CPN-Maoist leaders that have boycotted the elections to the CA, yet. Maoist leaders have continued to boycott the CA, and they have been demanding to dissolve the CA, and they have been insisting on holding a roundtable conference on crafting a new constitution.

ENDS

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