CABINET CONSIDERING NINE ORDINANCES FOR PROMULGATION Kathmandu, 24 Aug.: Nine ordinances for immediate promulgation by President Dr.. Ram Baran Yadav are being discussed by cabinet at four in the afternoon, radio report said Friday morning. The ordinances are being considered at the cabinet which sent bask seven ordinances Thursday additional homework was needed on them. The ordinances are being brought by a caretaker government that cannot take major policy decisions. nnnn ANGRY PRESIDENT TELLS SENIOR MINISTERS LOBBYING FOR ORDINANCES TO GO FOR CONSENSUS Kathmandu, 24 Aug.: President Ram Baran Yadav on Thursday asked two Cabinet ministers not to visit him to lobby for promulgation of ordinances without first striking consensus on the political front, Pranab Kharel, Phanindra Dahal write in The Kathmandu Post.. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had sent two of his deputies—Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar and Narayan Kaji Shrestha—to Shital Niwas to take the President into confidence before forwarding new ordinances. Though the Cabinet was supposed to forward the ordinances on Thursday morning, the plan was put on hold. Article 88 of the Interim Constitution states that the President, on the recommendation on the Council of Ministers, may promulgate any ordinance that it deems necessary. “The deputy prime ministers had come to the President to lobby for the ordinances. President Yadav instead suggested them to take up the agenda of political consensus,” an aide to the President said. The aide said that the President “strongly believes” that the government is trying to prolong its tenure by bringing in one ordinance after another. “In the absence of a parliament, the ordinances once promulgated will be like a permanent law as they cannot be questioned in the lack of mechanisms to check them,” the aide said. The government is planning to bring in over six new ordinances, including ones related to education, health, civil service, local administration, parliamentary hearing for appointment in constitutional bodies and formation of transitional justice mechanism. On Wednesday, Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party Chairman Mahanta Thakur met the President and requested him to support the ordinances. “These ordinances are under consideration in the Cabinet. We are trying to seek support of all political stakeholders, including the President, to avoid a controversy,” said Minister for Health and Population Rajendra Mahato. He added that the government plans to introduce the ordinances on a priority basis and wants to take the opposition parties into confidence. President’s Press Advisor Rajendra Dahal said Yadav is not against promulgating ordinances. “The first and foremost priority of the government should be to give a way out to the current deadlock. Ordinances are secondary,” Dahal quoted the President as saying. Last week, the President rejected two ordinances related to elections, stating that their relevance has expired as the Election Commission has announced its inability to hold fresh Constituent Assembly polls in November. The ruling parties—UCPN (Maoist) and Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha—have dubbed the President’s refusal as unconstitutional. nnnn NEW VISA REGIME TO PREVENT CRIME Kathmandu, 24 Aig.: In an attempt to discourage foreign criminals from using Nepal as a transit point to sneak into a third country and also as a haven for refuges, the Department of Immigration (DoI) is set to introduce a new visa regime for foreign Nationals, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.. “We had started granting a 90-day visa on arrival to promote tourism but the provision now needs to be reviewed and we are in talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to amend it,” said Suresh Adhikari, director general of the DoI. The new visa regime that will soon come into effect is likely to change existing visa regulations and citizens of more countries might not get visa on arrival, according Adhikari. As of now, residents of all countries, excepting 11, can avail of a three-month visa on arrival. The countries exempted from the arrival visa are Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cameroon, Somalia, Liberia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan. According to him, people visiting Nepal for trekking, expedition or mountaineering purposes will continue to get an arrival visa for 90 days, but those who come here for a visit will get arrival visa for 30 days. As per the new proposal, citizens of China, the United States and the European Union will be given priority in the new visa regime as these countries send thousands of tourists to Nepal annually. “We need to review the visa regime on a reciprocal basis,” said Adhikari. The 90-day on arrival visa provision has invited serious problems including a rise in urban refugees, the prospect of Nepal being used as a transit point for those seeking to sneak into other countries and a rise in drug and narcotics smuggling. Similarly, the DoI is also planning to introduce regulations to curb the number of Nepali females going to the Gulf on tourist visas for work where chances of abuse and exploitation are high. “Not a single female who has obtained a tourist visa to Gulf countries has produced an original visa stamp. All they have is a photocopy of the visa, which is clearly an indication of exploitation. Later, the photocopy is translated into a professional visa once they reached their destination. We are going to curb such malpractice as the DoI is often dragged into it,” said Adhikari. However, as the DoI does not have facilities to check visas stamped online, its offices are compelled to allow those with such stamps to travel abroad to risky jobs. To curb such fraud and anomalies, the DoI had prepared a financial proposal to revamp and reform the information sector, bring changes to the immigration desk and train its manpower. “But unfortunately, the Ministry of Finance rejected our proposal,” said Adhikari. The Rs 80 million-proposal had three components—networking of various entry points with the DoI, training manpower and upgrading infrastructure. “Now, the International Organisation of Migration has expressed its desire to support us,” he said. nnnn