I had not expected the Oli government to start facing public criticism so soon, a mere five months into its likely five-year term. When the communist alliance secured an absolute majority, a lot of people felt this was an opportunity for the government to bolster peace, prosperity and stability. But things are taking a negative turn too soon. The Oli government’s popularity is gradually beginning to erode due to a combination of its actions and inactions. It is becoming glaringly apparent that turning rhetoric into reality will take much more than what the government currently has to offer.

 

But considering the high hopes many people had, lack of rapid progress on key day-to-day struggles is giving rise to a grow­ing sense of anger and despair.

 

The major trend that we see is that of misplaced priority. There seems to be little to no effort at relieving everyday stressors for people or even on larger projects that would remove those stressors. The govern­ment instead seems bent on making things difficult for many people. It is obvious that it is more focused on centralized control than on devolved growth.

 

For one, this government is not serious about the constitution. The majority of the actors involved in drafting the constitution are now a part of this government and yet it lacks the passion and commitment to uphold constitutional values.

 

It behaves as if it is above the constitu­tion. If the political actors and the gov­ernment do not own up the constitution, and abide by it, fertile ground for a fresh conflict will be created.

 

Instead of building a system of gover­nance based on laws, government minis­ters are making serious decisions without proper legal basis. The announcement of the end of transport syndicate, Home Ministry’s direction to regulate NGOs/INGOs, weak or dysfunctional consti­tutional bodies like CIAA are but a few examples of how ministers’ whims inform government decisions. As a result, federal, provincial as well as local level govern­ments are becoming weaker.

 

Perhaps the government is not clear about how it wants to steer national level policies on health, education, diplomacy, human rights and more. It also doesn’t seem to be taking into account possi­ble backlash on far-reaching decisions. In fact there seems to be no process for consultation with relevant stakeholders before decisions are made. For instance, the new integrity policy and medical education bill suggest that the govern­ment is unaware of the impact of pushing agendas without broader consultation and ownership.

 

Most shockingly, there is no eagerness to learn from practices and policies that have and haven’t worked in the past. Instead of enhancing knowledge and harnessing best practices, the government seems to believe that having attained two-thirds major­ity, there is no further scope for growth. As such, decisions are not informed and evidence-based, but rather made at personal whims.

 

These factors are creating a churning at the grassroots that will slowly chip away public confidence in this admin­istration. The government will realize this sooner or later, but by then the damage may be done. The opportunity to deliver on some key indicators for growth is not yet lost; after all it has only been five months since this government came to power.

 

But frustration will mount if there con­tinues to be opacity about government actions and if power is not devolved as per the spirit of the constitution. And we all know what mounting frustration among a young and largely unemployed citi­zenry means.