DEMOLITION DRIVE CONTINUES Kathmandu, 25 Aug.: A demolition drive continued in the capital on a rainy Saturday amid little resistance from locals. Bulldozers and demolition squad were active in bringing down mostly illegally constructed structures in Kalimati, Tankeshwor and Sitapaila. Nnnn NC DEMANDS PROPBE OF ASSETS OF JUDGES Kathmandu, 25 Aug.: Angry after supreme court sentenced and jailed main opposition leader Khum Bahadur Khadka for corruption, some NC district presidents demand a probe by a commission into the assets of justices. They demanded a probe of assets of commissioners of CIAA that leveled the charges against Khadka. Not all 75district presidents made the call. nnnn PRESIDENT UNCONVINCED ON ORDINANCE RULE Kathmandu, 25 Aug.: Deputy Prime Ministers Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar and Narayan Kaji Shrestha today [Friday] failed to convince President Ram Baran Yadav about the necessity to bring ordinances, The Himalayan Times reports. Despite their efforts to get his nod to the ordinances, which are ‘essential for the state’ the President told them not to concentrate on ordinances but work towards building political consensus to draft the constitution. “He (President) told the ministers that promulgating the constitution should be the main focus,” Rajendra Dahal, Press Adviser to the President told The Himalayan Times. “As the nation is facing problem due to the differences among political parties, I expect the government to concentrate all efforts towards this end,” Dahal quoted President as saying. After the President rejected two election related ordinances two weeks ago, the government sent the ministers to meet the President to convince him about the necessity of the ordinances. The government has ordinances relating to education, health, administration, appointment in vital posts including and formation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission on Disappeared waiting for the President’s nod. Citing that the country was facing various problems due to a legal vacuum, the ministers said that it was urgent to promulgate the ordinances, during their two hour long meeting with the President. DPM Shrestha, however, said the President assured them that he will not take any steps against the will of the three major parties and Madhesi forces. Shrestha also said that the government will not resend the rejected ordinances soon to the President but forward those essential ordinances only after forging consensus among the parties. nnnn GOVT. LOOKS TO PRESIDENT FOR RESULUTION Kathmandu, 25 Aug The government is making preparations to recommend President Ram Baran Yadav to exercise his constitutional power to remove constitutional difficulties to pave way for appointments at the constitutional bodies, the Supreme Court and ambassadors, a move that is likely to further polarize the national politics and drag the president into a controversy, Kiran Chapagain writes in Republica.. The Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers has prepared a draft of the recommendation and has been holding discussion in a closed political and bureaucratic circle, according to a minister who is knowledgeable to the new political development. Prime Minister´s political advisor Devendra Paudel confirmed the development and said, "The constitutional bodies are being vacant and the prime minister is serious to make appointments. The appointments cannot be made without invoking the president´s power to remove constitutional difficulties." The Article 155 of the Interim Constitution requires any appointees in constitutional bodies, the Supreme Court and diplomatic missions to face parliamentary hearing. But this provision cannot be implemented because there is no parliament to hold confirmation hearing of appointees at the Supreme Court, constitutional bodies or diplomatic missions. Paudel said this constitutional hurdles can only be overcome by invoking Article 158 of the Interim Constitution. The provision says: If any difficulty arises in connection with the implementation of this Constitution, the President may on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, issue any orders to remove such difficulty; and such orders shall have to be ratified by the Legislature Parliament within one month. "The proposal is being discussed among leaders of the ruling parties. Once there is an agreement on recommending the president to remove constitutional difficulties, the cabinet will decide to ask the president to invoke the constitutional provision very soon," Paudel told Republica about the government move. As of now, the Election Commission and the Civil Service Commission are without its head while the term of most of its members will end in a few months. Similarly, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is without commissioners for the past three years and is being run by a secretary. Likewise, the number of Supreme Court justices is also dwindling while Nepal´s missions in New Delhi and the New York have been without ambassadors. In the meantime, the government has already prepared an ordinance to amend the existing laws on service and term of those to be appointment at constitutional bodies, hoping that the president will act on the government recommendations to remove constitutional difficulties, according to government sources. "The government will make the recommendation to the president to remove constitutional difficulties after holding consultation with the president," said Paudel. Nnnn ________________________________________ . ________________________________________ CIAA FAILS TO FOLLOW-UP ON CORRUPTION CHARGE AAGAINST MAOISTS AT CANTONMENTS Kathmandu, 25 Aug.: Despite calls from opposition parties to probe the financial irregularities in the Maoist cantonments, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has turned a blind eye to the matter even as the issue has become a big scandal within the UCPN (Maoist) party, Tirtha L. Busal writes in Republica.. However, officials at the CIAA said they were closely monitoring the issue though it has not formally begun any investigation into the alleged embezzlement of millions of rupees released from the state coffer as ration and salary to former Maoist combatants. "We are aware of the issue and the CIAA is closely monitoring the matter," CIAA Secretary Bhagwati Prasad Kafle told Republica. However, he refused to elaborate. The corruption in the cantonments became a major issue during the Maoist party´s plenum held in July and the party had to form an internal investigation commission to probe the financial irregularities amounting to around Rs. 2 billion. The commission is investigating the allegation by collecting complaints from party leaders and cadres. Opposition leaders and former combatants have accused the Maoist leadership of misappropriating over two billion rupees by producing forged signatures of about 6,000 "fake combatants who never existed or were never in the cantonments". Though CIAA officials said the anti-corruption body is closely monitoring the matter, independent experts believe that the CIAA without any commissioner would not be able to take up an issue of this magnitude. Sources at the commission said they were in wait and watch mode and they would take up the matter at the right time. "It is not that the CIAA has turned a blind eye to the issue. We are watching it and can take up the matter at a right time," said the source. "There is nothing to worry even if it takes some time to investigate into the matter because the Commission can take it up any time in future." Sources at the CIAA further said officials believe that the Commission should take up the matter only after the body is headed by a strong leadership. They thought it wouldn´t be right time to take up the matter given the fact that the government and political leadership from other political parties hadn´t bothered to appoint commissioners even though they had retired in January, 2010. Though leaders from opposition parties have accused the CIAA officials of turning a blind eye to the matter, experts said it was not fair to blame the officials. Bishnu Bahadur KC, president of Transparency International Nepal, said that the political leadership should own up the responsibility for the failure because they were the ones who had virtually paralyzed the commission . "I don´t see any point in blaming the CIAA officials for the failure to take up issues of such magnitude," KC told Republica. "The political leaders need to appoint commissioners instead of pointing fingers at the staffers." According to him, the only solution left for the government and major political parties is to appoint chief and other commissioners at the CIAA and entrust it with the task of uncovering any irregularities in the cantonments so as to ensure good governance in the country. Also, a former commissioner of the CIAA, preferring anonymity, said the political leadership´s intention to render the anti-graft body toothless is the major reason behind the failure to address such issues. According to KC, his head office had written to the prime minister demanding the government make public all the details of expenditures made in the name of former Maoist combatants and in all the cantonments across the country. "We corresponded with the prime minister´s office demanding that the government make public all the details about the expenditures because the money distributed in cantonments and in the name of cantonments was released from state treasury," KC explained. "We demanded breakdowns of the expenditures." Nnnn ________________________________________ ZOO GETS TO EMUS Kathmandu, 25 Aug.: Two emus that were being kept illegally at an amusement park in the Capital have found a new home in the Central Zoo at Jawalakhel, Rudra Pangent writes in The Himalayan Times. The Australian birds, from the species considered second largest in the world, now share the space that used to house an ostrich –– the largest bird in the world. Kathmandu District Forest Officer had confiscated the emus, that are by nature incapable of flight, from the Bhrikutimandap-based Fun Park and handed them over to the zoo on May 7. “The space set aside for an ostrich was divided so that the new birds have their own space. The birds need space to run,” said Balkrishna Giri, veterinary officer at the zoo, which has never had an emu in the past. The Central Zoo, with an area of about six hectares, provides shelter to a total of 870 mammals, birds, fish and reptiles of 109 species. “Ostrich and emu look similar. The ostrich is aggressive and does not like the company of other birds. So they are kept separately,” added Giri. “After the emus were brought here, visitors have shown interest towards non-flying birds,” said Babu Kaji Maharjan, caretaker of the birds. “They are omnivorous.” Maharjan feeds them grain and soaked gram in the morning and carrot, banana and apples in the noon. “They get some green leaves in the evening,” Giri said adding that they also eat grasshoppers and lizards. Seventh-grader Biswas Tamang from Bhaktapur, who visits the zoo at least once a year, said the birds were good to watch. “The birds are beautiful and are new to me.” Kathmandu District Forest Officer Man Bahadur Khadka said it was illegal to cage birds without a licence. Laws on wildlife have of rearing birds only receiving licences from Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. Acting on several complaints, the DFO team had raided the facility but no one turned out to claim the birds, informed Khadka. “We only heard they were brought from Australia when they were small. We thought the most appropriate place for them would be the zoo,” he said. The birds are about 12-15 years old, said Giri. The male weighs 42 kg and female 40 kg. Their life-span is 15 to 20 years. However, the female has not laid eggs yet, said caretaker Maharjan. nnnn