MINISTERS RETURN AFTER ATTENTING UN, WORLD BANK SESSIONS

MINISTERS RETURN AFTER ATTENDING UN GENERAL ASSEMLY SESSION, WORD BANK MEETS

Kathmandu, 28 Sept.: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha returned home Wednesday after attending the annual UN general assembly session in New York.
Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun also returned Wednesday after attending an annual meeting of World Bank and International Fund in Washington DC.
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‘CHOOSY’ HISILA YAMI CHEAPENS HER PM HYBBY’S RESOLVE



Kathmandu, 28 Sept.: While Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has been meticulously following the austerity measures in a bid to create a better image of his government, his wife Hisila Yami, a prominent leader in the Maoist party, seems to be swimming against the current. Sources said many of her recent acts watered down her husband’s resolves, Bhadra Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post..
In a clear breach of the PM’s recent directives, Yami demanded a Prado, a Toyota car that costs Rs 15 million, from the Prime Minister’s Office only last week. PM Bhattarai, in sharp contrast, rides a Nepal-assembled Mustang car, which costs Rs 1.6 million.
“She telephoned Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire and asked him to manage a Prado for her,” a government secretary said. “We were taken aback by her demand as it did not quite follow the spirit of the PM’s code of conduct. The PMO has expressed inability to fulfill her demand right away.”
His own well-wishers in the party say Bhattarai is a man of solid integrity, but his success would depend on how he manages “Yami’s tendency to overreach.” “It is also his test,” said a Maoist leader.
As one of the few prominent women leaders in Nepali politics, Yami also has her own history of struggle and political leadership in her party. She is a three-time minister and a Maoist lawmaker. But when she was in power, many of her work created controversies. She has been accused of promoting nepotism and favouritism while appointing staffers in state-run offices and corporations, and pressing government officials to work for her vested interests.
PMO sources said that since Bhattarai was elected the PM, Yami has, against the established norms, summoned secretaries many times at Baluwatar and instructed them to act in accordance with her interests.
On September 17, a day before Bhattarai left for New York to attend the UN General Assembly, Yami summoned 11 secretaries, mainly from the Maoist-led ministries, at Baluwatar, stating that the PM wanted to consult with them. When the secretaries reached the PM’s residence, Bhattarai was absent, but Yami started instructing them.
“Sometimes, she summons and directs us on her own. At times, she directs us to support something that serves only her interest,” a government secretary said.
It is also learnt that Yami has been pressing government officials to provide financial assistance to the Marxist Study Centre run by Maoist leaders loyal to Bhattarai. Yami rubbished charges of pressure to provide financial assistance to the centre. But she admitted that she had refused a vehicle provided by the PMO and asked for a new one because the one sent was “very old”. “Party workers detested the vehicle saying it was used by late Girija Prasad Koirala. I have not demanded a Prado. Even Bolero will be ok,” Yami said.
Government sources said law does not provide a separate vehicle to the PM’s wife, but tradition has it that the PM’s close ones, including his wife, do use vehicles at the PMO.
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