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Time supposedly flies, at least for those whose life is easier than that of 57-year-old Bikaman Thami of Barhabise, Sindhupalchowk. On the third anniversary of the Gorkha earthquake, Thami and his family of 10 continue to live in a ram­shackle tent. The first installment of Rs 50,000 in post-quake rebuilding aid for the construction of his new home was spent on basic necessities of his large family. Broke, Thami is now worried that government officials will ask him to return the money that was meant for laying the foundation of his new home.

Nepal’s reconstruction efforts are in some ways Thami’s plight writ large. The government did not have the resources to rebuild over 767,000 partially or completely destroyed homes, so it decided to give the quake-affected people money to do it themselves. But identifying the right quake victims and taking the mon­ey to them via the right banking channels proved to be hard. When some people did finally get some money, it was a case of too little too late.

Reconstruction of other vital infrastructures has been as slow. Of the over 7,500 schools that were destroyed across 14 most-affected districts, just over 3,100 have been rebuilt satisfactorily. Likewise, less than half of the 1,200 health centers destroyed are up and running again. When it comes to rebuilding the private homes of those who lost it all like Thami, just one-seventh of the target has been met.

With an unclear mandate and constant political med­dling, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) set up in 2015 to expedite the process was hobbled from the start. Then, reconstruction was virtually put on hold as the country’s attention shifted to the three tiers of elections. Also, for various reasons, the donors who made tall promises during the international donor conference held in June 2015 failed to follow through. As the public memory of the horrors of 2015 faded, it seems, so did the compassion for the quake victims.

PM Oli said all the right things on the third anniversa­ry of the quake on April 25, even pledging to personally contribute labor for rebuilding. He need not do that. What he needs to do is provide strong leadership. He will have done plenty if he can ensure that the NRA is given enough autonomy and resources. Another big achievement would be convincing the donors to hon­or their pledges. But Oli should hurry. At stake are the lives of hundreds of thousands of people like Thami who are bracing for yet another nasty monsoon.

Yubaraj Khatiwada is the right man to lead the Ministry of Finance. Not just because he has a Phd in monetary economics from the pres­tigious Delhi School of Economics—although that is no small consideration in a country where this vital portfolio has time and again gone to those with limited economic nous. The new finance minister has a record of helping steady the economy through diffi­cult times, particularly during his previous stint as the central bank governor.

Khatiwada takes over as finance minister when the economy is again hitting turbulence. Over the past one decade, the country’s trade deficit has declined by a yearly average of 21.9 percent. It has notched up over Rs 90 billion of deficit in the first five months of the current fiscal alone.

Foreign remittance, Nepal’s one sure source of steady income, is drying up. In the five months of the current fiscal, remittance is down 0.8 percent compared to the same period last year—the first negative remittance growth rate in over a decade. Recurrent expenditures are shooting up, productive spending is stagnant, and another real estate bubble is building. Even someone with Khatiwada’s stellar credentials could struggle to bring the twisted economy in shape.

But Khatiwada seems to be in a mood to make a good fist of it. In his first declaration as finance minister, he vowed to bring all government transactions online from the upcoming Nepali New Year. This, if can be done, could make a significant dent on bureaucratic corruption and reduce money-laundering, a growing problem. As a representative of the unified left gov­ernment, Khatiwada added, he is as committed to the left alliance’s electoral commitment of common pros­perity. Moreover, he said he was determined to bring Nepal’s economy back on track. But therein also lies the problem.

CPN-UML, the senior partner in the recent merger with CPN (Maoist Center), has long been seen as a par­ty that protects cartels and syndicates. It also has a vast patronage network to look after. This raises a legitimate fear: Will the new finance minister be allowed to work freely? Or will he be used primarily as a smokescreen behind which the various vested interests of the new communist juggernaut can hide?

Having shown the courage to sideline his cronies who were all angling for the finance ministry, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli would do well to give his cho­sen one enough room to work in the country’s interest.

Even at the risk of sounding obsequious, you have to give credit to the government of KP Sharma Oli where it is due. The appointment of clean and efficient ministers, a couple of very wise picks as chiefs of the two police forces, recent exercise in balanced diplomacy and, now, the determi­nation it has shown to wipe out transport cartels are all highly admirable. Particularly the last bit. It could not have been easy for Prime Minister Oli, the chief of CPN-UML, a party that has traditionally provided patronage to transport cartels, to suddenly crack down on them in public interest.

These government actions hint at the prime min­ister’s determination to leave behind a strong legacy, one marked by accountable governance and tangible improvement in people’s daily lives. The country des­perately needed such firm leadership. Nearly every study of the growing incidents of road accidents in Nepal’s blood-soaked highways has pointed to the rickety state of long-distance passenger buses as one of the major culprits. In the fiscal 2016-17, there were an average of 28 road acci­dents, and six deaths, in the country every single day. Yet this brazen crime on the part of the trans­port cartels that refused to allow new vehicles of other private operators on the roads was ignored by successive governments.

These cartels flourished under the protection of top political leaders, despite repeated Supreme Court rulings to ban them, the first of them coming over a decade ago. Only now has the government gathered the spunk to take them on. Better late than never. We can only hope that the government stands firm and does not back down to the cartels’ pressure tactics. But even that is not enough.

There are entrenched cartels and syndicates in other sectors too. For instance one study suggests that the prices of fruits and vegetables increase up to five-fold from what the farmers get for their produce, again thanks to the cartels in this market. There are many formal or informal cartels in health and education sec­tors as well, again adversely affecting people’s well-be­ing. May sound superfluous, but the government has full public support to bust these cartels and to ensure free and fair competition in all goods and services. These are exciting times indeed.

 “Why isn’t Thamel, which is at the heart of Nepali tourism, open 24 hours a day?” The questioner was visibly angry at the government’s inability to do so. The event was a public hearing in Thamel of top cops and administrators of Kathmandu district on a recent Friday evening. The incoming chief of Nepal Police, Sarbendra Khanal, who was instrumental in making Thamel a no-vehicle zone, must have heard this question many times. It is just a sliver of the immense challenge he will face.

Khanal takes over as the Inspector General of Nepal Police as the country is making a difficult transition to a federal structure. Nepal Police, which is still highly centralized, is struggling with this drastic change. The number of crimes this fiscal is up, by eight percent from the previous year, with murders and rapes accounting for most of the increase. There are now an average of over three rapes in Nepal every day. It falls on Khanal to enhance public trust in his institution, to sincerely implement the slogan of “Police My Friend”. A trusted police force is also an effective one.

You wouldn’t bet against Khanal. After all, he has had a stellar career. His investigative skills were amply demonstrated when he looked into and led the suc­cessful prosecution of national footballers enmeshed in match-fixing. Besides his investigative skills, Khanal was as noted for his tough line against notorious dons. Khanal, who had received top marks in the internal evaluation of Nepal Police to choose the new police chief, is one of the rare Inspector Generals whose appointment was based largely on merit. This will, hopefully, set a strong precedent.

It would have been better still had Khanal been first appointed the Assistant Inspector General (AIG), the second highest rank, and promoted to Inspector Gen­eral after some time. But as all serving AIGs had retired at the same time, the government had no option but to choose from among the third-highest ranking Depu­ty Inspector Generals (DIGs), Khanal among them. To ensure that there is no such void in the future, and that the next police chief is well trained as an administrator, the provision of compulsory retirement after 30 years of service has to be modified. The sooner the better.

The good news is that merit has prevailed over poli­ticking in the appointment of the Nepal Police chief, as well as the new chief of the Armed Police Force, which is now led by Shailendra Khanal, another competent hand. This bodes well in these uncertain times.