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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has invited United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit Nepal.

PM Dahal said that he extended an invitation to visit Nepal to Secretary General Guterres while returning home from Rome, Italy after taking part in a program of the United Nations.

Speaking to journalists at the Tribhuvan International Airport, PM Dahal said that United Nations Secretary General Guterres will visit Nepal soon.

“I have extended an invitation to the Secretary General of the United Nations to visit Nepal. He will visit Nepal soon,” the PM said.

On the sidelines of the event, Prime Minister Dahal had held a meeting with the UN Secretary General in Rome.

During the meeting, they discussed Nepal-UN relations, Nepal’s contribution to establish world peace, climate change and food security among other issues.

CPN-UML province Parliamentary Party leader Hikmat Kumar Karki has been reinstated as the acting chief minister of Koshi Province.

He will assume the office today itself.

Karki was appointed as the acting chief minister after the Supreme Court removed Congress province Parliamentary Party leader Uddhav Thapa from the post of chief minister.

He will work as the chief minister till August 2.

Earlier on Thursday, the apex court had ordered province Chief Parshuram Khapung to proceed with the process to appoint a new chief minister by August 2 while annulling the appointment of Thapa.

Karki, who is in Kathmandu, will head towards Biratnagar after some time to take charge of the office.

With Karki’s reinstatement, the ministers in the government under his leadership will also take over the responsibility of the ministries.

In the UML-led government, Buddhi Kumar Raj Bhandari was the Minister for Social Development and Tourism, Forest and Environment, Til Kumar Menyangbo Minister for Drinking Water, Irrigation and Energy and Health.

Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) province Parliamentary Party leader Bhakti Prasad Sitaula is the Minister for Industry, Agriculture and Cooperatives and Physical Infrastructure Development.

Karki was appointed as the chief minister for the second time on January 8, 2023.

The Karki-led government fell after losing the vote of confidence in Parliament on June 30.

After that, province Chief Parshuram Khapung called for the formation of a new government as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution.

After  counting the signatures including that of Speaker Baburam Gautam, province Chief Khapung appointed Nepali Congress leader Thapa as the chief minister on July 6.

On July 7, leader Karki filed a writ at the Supreme Court against the decision.

Hearing the case filed against the Koshi government, a full bench of Justices comprising Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Til Prasad Shrestha annulled the appointment of Thapa and directed province Chief Khapung to appoint a chief minister of the coalition government within seven days.

Wrapping up his visit to Italy, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal returned home on Friday.

Leading a delegation, Prime Minister Dahal had left Kathmandu for Italy on July 22 to attend the 'Food System Summit +2' organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy.

In his address to the 'Food System Summit', PM Dahal had underlined the need for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to spur investment in agriculture to cope with climate change and other hazards and strengthen adaptation capacity.

PM Dahal had addressed the 'United Nations Food Systems-2023 Stocktaking Moment'.

He highlighted the effectiveness of Nepal's ongoing mid-day meal program in the health and overall educational improvements of the students.

During his stay in Italy, PM Dahal had held separate meetings with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutterres.

He also had a meeting with the World Food Program (WFP)'s Executive Director Cindy Mccan, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu and International Fund for Agriculture Development's President Alvaro Lario.

PM Dahal had also participated in a reception hosted by the Non-Resident Nepali Association, Italy in Rome.

PM Dahal also had a separate discussion with the members of Nepali Progressive Forum chapters of Italy, Belgium, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, Austria and Ireland.

The PM-led delegation comprises his personal secretary and daughter Ganga Dahal, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr Beduram Bhusal, National Planning Commission Member Dr Jayakant Raut, high-ranking government officials, security personnel and others.

Among the 753 local governments, 33—11 municipalities and 22 rural municipalities—have failed to bring their budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 on time. According to Section 71 of the Local Government Operation Act, 2017, local governments are required to present their budget by Asar 10 (June 24/25) and have them passed by the end of Asar (July 15/16). 

On a positive note, Sudurpaschim province, which has 88 local units, has achieved a 100 percent record this year as all units passed their budget on time. In the fiscal years 2022/23 and 2020/21, Gandaki province had also set a perfect record. 

Meanwhile, Madhes province continues to have a poor track record. As the second largest province in terms of local units, Madhes has 136 governments, and 24 of them failed to pass their budgets on time this year. The number of local units missing the budget deadline in Madhes was 34 in 2020/21, 32 in 2021/22, and 28 in 2022/23.

Geeta Devi Mahato, the Vice-chairperson of Chandranagar Rural Municipality in Sarlahi district, Madhes, has accused Chairperson Raj Kumar Mahato of taking unilateral decisions without consulting others, resulting in the budget presentation delay. 

Raj Kumar, on the other hand, points finger at Geeta Devi and her team for the delay, claiming they refused to attend numerous meetings convened to address the issue concerning budget allocation. “They have been boycotting the executive committee and village council meetings without providing any valid reasons,” he says.

Disagreement between municipal heads and their deputies is the main reason behind the delay in budget presentation.  

ApEx reached out to many representatives from the local units that had failed to bring their budget on time, and they all had the same excuse, where mayors or chairpersons blamed their deputies and vice versa.

Four local units in Gandaki province, two in Lumbini and one each in Koshi, Bagmati and Karnali provinces also failed to meet the budget presentation deadline.

Ram Chandra Joshi, mayor of Kushma Municipality, Parbat district of Gandaki province, says that the budget process was obstructed because several ward chairpersons wanted more budget allocations for their areas. “There is no other reason to obstruct the budget presentation process other than to exert political pressure on me.”

Joshi says he lacks a majority in the executive committee and council, but the Local Government Operation Act, 2017 has not imagined a majority or minority provisions for local executives and councils. “Despite being aware of the law, the obstruction from executive committee members prevented us from presenting the budget on time,” adds Joshi.

The Municipal Association of Nepal (MuAN) says that the general public should not suffer due to the power struggles among local representatives. “A law should be passed so that those local units that fail to bring the budget on time are prohibited from spending even a single rupee from the state coffers,” suggests an official from the association.

Currently, the only repercussion faced by municipalities for delayed budget submissions is receiving reduced subsidies from the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission. 

“The commission allocates subsidies to local units based on their performance, with timely budget presentation and approval carrying weightage of five points each in the total score of 100 points,” says Gyanendra Paudel, the spokesperson for the commission. “In other words, higher scores lead to increased subsidies.”

Federalism expert and lawmaker Khim Lal Devkota, suggests redirecting the reduced subsidy of local units that fail to meet the budget deadline to neighboring municipalities.

“This measure could foster healthy competition among local representatives and encourage better performance,” he says. “Locals will also pressurize their representatives to perform their responsibilities if they see their neighboring areas doing well.”

Devkota highlights that this approach has been successfully implemented before Nepal adopted federalism, when District Development Committees (DDC) was in charge of budget allocation. Under the system, the government would reduce the subsidy of poorly performing DDCs and allocate it to more efficient and hardworking ones. The strategy significantly enhanced the work of most of the development committees.

“It is the only way I see to hold the elected local representatives accountable,” says Devkota.

Approximately 33 percent or one-thirds of the total federal budget, equivalent to around Rs 600bn, is allocated to the local level for this fiscal year. Untimely budget allocation negatively impacts local employment, income, and ultimately hampers the overall economic growth of the country.

Economist Chandra Mani Adhikari is opposed to the idea of reducing subsidies for non-performing local units, and suggests introducing other forms of punishment. “Why should the public bear the brunt of the representatives’ corrupt actions?” he says. “People should file a petition at the Supreme Court, as these actions are an assault on our system and a violation of the Local Government Operation Act, 2017.” 

Adhikari also warns that consistent failure of the local government to do their job well could fuel people’s resentment toward federalism.

Officials at the federal affairs department of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration say local governments are not under the ministry’s jurisdiction, that they are an elected entity chosen by the people. They say the ministry just facilitates the local units, and it is the job of the people to hold their municipal governments accountable.

Laxmi Devi Pandey, chairperson of the National Association of Rural Municipalities in Nepal (NARMIN) and the chair of Hupsekot Rural Municipality, claims that the association has repeatedly reminded local units and their representatives to do the job for which they have been sent by the people. “There is no need to obstruct the executive committee and council meetings because the failure to present the budget will harm the local economy and community.” 

Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, joint secretary and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, is hopeful that the local governments will get their act together in the coming years.

“The number of local units failing to submit their budget on time has decreased over the years, and this improvement is a result of adopting a ‘learning by doing’ approach,” he says. 

Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, there has been a decreasing trend in the number of local units failing to submit their budget on time. The figures for non-compliance were 46, 53, 42, and 33, respectively.

Bhattarai says the ministry has been guiding and training local representatives to execute their roles effectively by adhering to a fixed set of protocol.