ADD TAMRAT DISCUSSES ELECTION WITH CHIEF OF EC; PM CALLS FOR ELECTION BY AMENDING CONSTITUTION Kathmandu, 9 June: Samuel Tamrat Friday discussed announced 22 November elections with Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprethy who one day earlier said the date for the vote could obstruct a ballot with early onset of snow in the hill and mountain areas Elections have never been held so late. There’s also no provision for two constituent assembly elections (CA) in an interim constitution. Tamrat said UN was watching the election preparation with deep interest. Abd surred help from the world body. “Political agreement is necessary for resolution of all problems. We should ahead by removing all obstacles<” Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said calling for constitution amendment with cooperation of the president. Amendments on the strength and tenure of the CA, preparation of a voters’ and removal of other obstacles could be addressed by the amendment. Main opposition parties NC and UML said they won’t participate in the November vote.. “The amendment of the constitution and the holding of fresh elections are the only means to resolve the present problem,” the premier said in Pokhara Friday. nnnn WHY MADESHIBADI PARTIES SPLIT Kathmandu, 9 June: Shiva Kumar Sah, a 27-year-old secondary-level teacher from Jhauwa Village Development Committee in Parsa district, is not surprised at the regular splits in Madhes-based political parties. Rather, he sounds quite confident when he says the Madhesi people are losing trust in these parties that should have been working for the Madhesi cause, Gani Ansari writes in Republica. . "Lack of political maturity and shortsightedness are the major reasons for splits in Madhes-based political parties," says Sah. "Madhesis are losing their trust in these parties as they have failed to stick to their agendas." But Sah has not lost all hope. "The new generation of Madhesi leaders should be able to forward the Madhesi cause, building on the ground laid by current Madhesi leaders," he says. Sah is not alone in feeling dismay at the chronic splits in Madhes-based parties. The question now is -- Why do these parties keep splitting? When the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), the NGO-turned political party, contested the Constituent Assembly election in April 2008, people hardly believed that it would do well. It surprised even the major political parties by coming out with flying colors, thereby becoming a force to be reckoned. Though MPRF managed to capture the hearts and minds of Madhesi people and became the fourth largest political party in the CA, it failed to maintain that status for long. The party has suffered as many as six splits since its establishment. And Nepal Sadbhawana Party, which was once a single party, also suffered the same fate, splitting into three different parties. It´s ironic when MPRF Chairman Upendra Yadav says, "The Madhesi leaders lack vision for running parties and are opportunists." Madhesi leaders are less experienced in running parties, he believes. "Madhesi society is fractious and this has been reflected even in the Madhes-based parties." "You cannot do politics just talking about Madhes and Hills. There should be political vision [to run parties]," argues Yadav. The latest casualty in this series of splits is the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (Democratic), a splinter group of the MPRF. It saw another split when it expelled its senior leader, Sarat Singh Bhandari, on June 5. Bhandari is now mulling forming a new party with support from other leaders from the party. Since the 2008 election, there has not been a single Madhes-based party that has not developed cracks. Analysts closely watching Madhesi politics and Madhesi leaders say there are many reasons for the frequent splits. Journalist Chandrakishor Jha sees at least five main reasons for Madhesi party splits. First, Madhesi parties in general lack internal discipline though these parties have been duly registered at the Election Commission. Secondly, it is a general trend in Madhesi parties to try to resolve their internal problems through "external forces". Third, the politics of power has also prompted leaders to split their parties. Fourth is the bigger parties playing spoilsport through their role of catalyst in inducing divisions among Madhesi parties. And lastly, external factors are at work. But these are not the only reasons, if other analysts are to be believed. "One of the reasons behind splits in Madhesi parties is lack of clarity in ideology," says Bijaya Kant Karna, a Madhesi intellectual who recently returned after a stint as Nepal´s ambassador to Denmark. "The Madhesi parties have been championing the cause of Madhes -- proportional representation of Madhesi people in state mechanisms, among other things -- but they lack a specific ideology." "Madhesbad (Madhes-ism) cannot be an ideology, only an issue," says Karna, who adds that there is lack of a charismatic figure among Madhesi parties who can be revered by all. "Following the death of founder Chairman of Sadbhawana Party (SP) Gajendra Narayan Singh, Madhesi leaders could not accept each other´s leadership," argues Karna. "Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar wonders why he should accept Upendra Yadav as his leader; JP Gupta wonders why he should accept Gachchhadar as leader." These analysts further say that the background of the Madhesi leaders should also be blamed for the frequent party splits. A majority of Madhesi party leaders come from varying political and ideological backgrounds. Some came from the Nepali Congress, some from the CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist and still others from a Panchayat background. running the Madhesi parties but such leadership is far from materialising, analysts say. "Madhesi parties have split also because their organizational structures are weak," Karna further adds. "Had their organizational structure been strong, they would not have developed cracks." The country has seen as many as four governments since the election of the Constituent Assembly in 2008, and one or another Madhesi party has found a place in the successive governments. There is an increasing trend of splitting the parties to gain political mileage, say Madhesi leaders. "It (split) has become a ladder to power," says Rameshwor Raya Yadav, senior vice-chairman of MPRF(D). "Recent trends show that one can easily join the government even if s/he leads only a fringe party. This has prompted Madhesi parties to split." nnnn MORE POWERS FOR REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS Kathmandu, 9 June: The government has given sweeping powers to the regional administration offices (RAOs), upgrading them from just ´liaison offices´ to all-powerful entities overseeing development work as well as other day-to-day government activities taking place in the respective development regions, LOsh Raj Regmi writes in Republica.. The Nepal Government (Work Division) Regulations 2069 BS unveiled recently has brought all five RAOs directly under the purview of the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, through an amendment to the erstwhile provision that kept them under the Home Ministry. “The regional administration offices, which used to act like liaison offices, are now empowered to monitor development work as well as day-to-day government activities in the region concerned,” said officials at the prime minister´s office. Officials said the regional administrators, who are special class gazetted officers, are entrusted with issuing necessary directives to the government field offices and line ministries concerned on the basis of the findings of their inspections. “As the regional administration offices are also entrusted with the task of reporting directly to the prime minister´s office on the day-to-day security situation as well as other developments in the region, they do not need to rely solely on the budget allocated by the Home Ministry,” officials further said. Earlier, the RAOs required to function under the budget ceiling set by the Home Ministry. The special class officers who were deputed as regional administration officers would often shy away from taking up their responsibilities, arguing that it was an office literally without any powers. It is believed that the new provision giving the RAOs more teeth will help encourage government officers to take up those posts. Officials say the new arrangement bringing the RAOs under the prime minister´s office will also help resolve hierarchy problems. The regional administrators would feel awkward working under officers of the same level as themselves when their offices were under the Home Ministry. “Since they will now work under the chief secretary, they will no longer feel any problem of hierarchy,” a senior official at the Home Ministry said. “Leave for the regional administrators will now be sanctioned by the chief secretary.” However, former bureaucrats do not buy this argument. They say that there was never any problem of hierarchy. “Though the chiefs of the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department are also special class officers, there was never any problem of hierarchy,” said former home secretary Govind Prasad Kusum. Kusum said the government´s decision to bring the RAOs under the prime minister´s office does not augur well. “The National Vigilance Center, which is already under the prime minister´s office, has failed to be effective. The RAOs will meet a similar fate as the type of work these offices carry out is related to the Home Ministry,” he argued. The government had first introduced the concept of Regional General Administration Offices and set up two such offices in Surkhet and Dhankuta back in 1997. The offices were entrusted with effecting transfers of non-gazetted government employees, distributing pension books and carrying out administrative audits. However, the offices were rendered defunct some three years later as their powers were curtailed and the special class officers deputed to the offices also shied away. These offices were not even deemed necessary as there were already zonal administrators deputed to each zone. RAOs were revived again in 2006 as just ´liaison offices´ for all government offices in the region concerned. nnnn ________________________________________ OVER 100,000 REJOIN FOREIGN JOBS Kathmandu, 9 June: More than 100,000 migrant workers have rejoined foreign jobs in the last six monthsm The Himalayan Times reports.. According to the Department of Foreign Employment, 112,550 Nepalis including 2,468 women rejoined foreign jobs after the government started registering such workers. The five major destinations for returnee migrant workers hired 91.82 per cent Nepalis with the highest number of 39,549 migrant workers in Qatar. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait hired 24,780, 6,466 and 2,341 Nepalis respectively. Malaysia hired 30,078 Nepalis in the last six months. The department’s data shows the highest number of returnee migrant workers registered in the first month after the introduction of the registration process. Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) recorded 20,930 migrant workers rejoining jobs in major job markets while Poush and Magh witnessed a marginal fall to 18,131 and 16,046 respectively. Registration of the reentry to foreign jobs jumped in Falgun and Chaitra. According to the department, about 18,638 Nepalis joined foreign jobs in Falgun and 20,889 in Chaitra. A further fall was noticed in Baisakh when 17,906 returnee migrant workers left the country. However, the reentry of women migrant workers to foreign job markets showed a gradual growth in the last six months. About 370 women had reentered foreign jobs in Mangsir but the number reached 513 in Baisakh. Only Poush recorded a fall with 273 Nepali women going abroad. Other job markets that Nepali returnee migrant workers are attracted to are Bahrain, Oman, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Afghanistan and Lebanon. Among the destinations, Israel and Lebanon are lucrative destinations for women migrant workers. The department started registering returnee migrant workers in mid-November. However, it has not started recording returnees at Tribhuwan International Airport. 26,429 migrant workers get orientation About 26,429 migrant workers received foreign job orientation from 53 registered institutes in Baisakh (mid-April to mid-May). According to the Department of Foreign Employment, the institutes provide training about the language and culture of the job market along with preparations necessary to join foreign jobs. Workers are also taught the basic laws of the destination countries, ethics of industrial workers and helping agencies abroad. The training was introduced according to the Foreign Employment Act 2007 to reduce risks in foreign job markets. nnnn UNDERTAIN ORDINANCE TO BLACK LIST NEPAL Kathmandu, 9 June: A delay by the caretaker government led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai in bringing three key Bills — Mutual Legal Assistance Bill, Extradition Bill and Bill Against Organised Crime — through ordinance by next weekend will force the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to downgrade Nepal to the ‘high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions to which counter-measures apply’ along with Iran and North Korea, Kuvera Chalise writes in The Himalayan Times. . The ‘high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions to which counter-measures apply’ is a list of ‘Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories’ that are perceived to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Currently, Nepal is under the ‘jurisdiction with a high-level political commitment to address the AML/CFT deficiencies,’ but the government’s failure like before, will force the FATF’s plenary — the FATF’s decision making body that meets three times a year — meeting in Italy on June 18-21 to downgrade Nepal to ‘high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions to which counter-measures apply’ or commonly known as blacklisting. Nepal had received a time extension — due to international lobbying — in the February meeting of the plenary that has recategorised the jurisdictions to three; ‘High-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions to which counter-measures apply’ under which Iran and North Korea fall, ‘High-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions that have not committed to an action plan’ under which 15 jurisdictions including Cuba fall, and ‘Jurisdictions with a high-level political commitment to address the AML/CFT deficiencies under which 23 jurisdictions including Nepal fall. The February meeting had listed a total of 17 countries under high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions by the watchdog of the flow of dirty money. All countries are defined as high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions, however counter-measures were applied to only Iran and North Korea as the FATF felt that they were not making sufficient efforts to improve their regulations to fight against the flow of dirty money. “We are committed to bringing the three key Bills through ordinance,” said finance secretary Krishna Hari Baskota. In May, during the face-to-face meeting in New Delhi briefing the Asia Pacific Group –– the regional member of Financial Action Task Force — meeting, Nepal had blamed the prolonged political transition for not being able to pass those Bills. But the meeting had asked Nepal to fulfill its commitment as soon as possible to escape blacklisting in June. The three key Bills that are among the major commitments to the FATF were presented before the Parliament. But the intra-party rift within the ruling party, UCPN-Maoist, hindered the Parliament from passing them in February. But after May 27, there is no Parliament and the government can fulfill its long due commitment through ordinance only. Nepal has been repeatedly failing to fulfill its international commitment on passing the three Bills that will give legal teeth to the UN conventions on Anti Money Laundering that the parliament has already ratified. The government’s failure to fulfill its commitment to FATF will not only downgrade the country to a high-risk zone, it is rather going to cost the country dearly and the financial sector will be the first casualty, besides the flow of foreign investment. The financial sector will be hit hard as they will not be allowed to make any international transaction, and the country will lose its international market as the cost of exports will go up making Nepal’s exports expensive. Similarly, donors will also include more stringent conditions for aid and grants once the country is blacklisted. The FATF had in February called on 21 jurisdictions to complete the implementation of action plans expeditiously and within the proposed timeframe. It has been closely monitoring the implementation of the action plans. Earlier, Nepal had committed to the FATF to approve the Bills coupled with other reforms by December 2011, but the country — passing through a political transition — has not been able to keep its promise. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “I am confident police will leave no stone unturned to find the culprits. The public suspect that the murder was meant to unleash terror in the judiciary. I assure you all that we will not sway from the path of justice.” (Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi, The Himalayan Times, 9 June) nnnn