The week that was

This week Ashok Raj Sigdel was appointed as the 45th Chief of the Nepali Army. He will be in charge effective from Sept 9. His predecessor, Prabhu Ram Sharma, had an average performance. During his tenure, Sharma effectively suppressed the debate on the need to right-size the Nepali Army, even causing senior politicians to backtrack on their positions. Sharma publicly accused certain individuals of deliberately fueling this debate to weaken the army.

The Nepali Army generally shows minimal interest in involving itself in politics, and politicians are typically eager to support any proposals the army puts forward. As a result, the appointment of the army chief has become a routine process, lacking the disagreements that are often seen in the Nepal Police. However, in recent years, senior army officials have faced increased scrutiny for allegedly manipulating key documents such as citizenship and educational certificates. This situation highlights the need for systematic investigations into these issues. Moreover, civilian oversight of the Nepal Army has weakened significantly, and media coverage of the army’s transparency has dwindled.

Talking about appointments, Chief Justice Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha is set to retire next month, but there have been no preparations to recommend a new chief justice or fill the remaining judicial vacancies. The Nepal Bar Association this week urged the government to initiate the process. In recent years, Nepal’s judiciary has become highly politicized, leading to a loss of public trust in some cases.

In another story this week, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s directive to senior home ministry officials to facilitate the process of issuing citizenship to Prakash Tamang sparked a debate about government functioning. Any Nepali citizen can typically acquire citizenship from the district administration office without difficulty. However, the incident underscores the challenges Nepali citizens face in accessing basic government services and indicates a need for systemic reforms to ensure that eligible citizens can obtain citizenship without undue hassle.

This week, CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal remained in the national spotlight. He expressed regret over breaking the alliance with the Nepali Congress (NC) last March and stated that his party would not passively witness the government’s misconduct. Dahal also warned the leaders of both the CPN-UML and NC not to approach him for support if their alliance encountered challenges. Despite publicly stating his reluctance to re-enter government, Dahal’s actions suggest otherwise. He has already begun forming alliances with fringe communist parties, positioning himself for future political maneuvering.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit, scheduled for Sept 3-4, has been postponed due to political developments in the host country, Thailand. Prime Minister Oli was expected to attend the summit and meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now, preparations are underway for Oli to visit New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, though it is unclear whether he will meet with US officials during his visit. There have been no updates on a potential visit to India, but after Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba’s meeting with Modi, Oli may be eager to meet with the Indian prime minister. Since the formation of the Oli-led government, there have been high-level exchanges with India and the US, but no visits to or from Beijing.

Onto politics, the ruling Nepali Congress plunged into another internal conflict this week. Senior leaders such as Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma have taken positions advocating for term limits for prime ministers and ministers. Thapa insists that the party should officially decide not to forge any electoral alliances in the upcoming general elections. Party President Sher Bahadur Deuba, however, believes that these issues should be settled at the party’s general convention in 2026, just before the general elections. Another senior leader, Shekhar Koirala, has warned the party leadership not to delay the convention, noting that the NC has historically struggled to hold its conventions on time.

Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba also became a subject of discussion this week within Nepal’s political circles, especially within the NC. Her recent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi during her visit to India has led to the speculation within the NC that this meeting could signal India’s endorsement of Arzu as a future leader of the NC and potentially as a future prime minister of Nepal. Over the past few years, her husband and NC President, Deuba, has elevated her position within both the party and national politics.

This week CPN (Unified Socialist), a splinter group of the CPN-UML, elected 16 office bearers through a ballot. While Madhav Kumar Nepal was unanimously continued as party chair, there were disputes over the office bearers. Ram Kumari Jhakri, a youth leader prominent since the 2006 people’s movement, was defeated in the intra-party elections, leading to speculation that she might join the CPN-UML. Jhakri was one of the leaders who strongly opposed Oli’s dissolution of Parliament in 2020, and she worked closely with Nepal during the party split in 2021. There are also talks of a possible party unification between the Maoist Center and CPN (Unified Socialist), indicating that factionalism is a common trend in Nepal’s political landscape, even among fringe parties.

Another notable story this week was Prime Minister Oli facing questions from lawmakers in Parliament, including one related to America’s State Partnership Program (SPP), which has been pending for several years. Oli told Parliament that there has been no fresh proposal from the American side regarding the SPP. The previous government, led by Deuba, had informed the US that Nepal could no longer implement the SPP program. As usual, the Prime Minister Oli also faced questions about the details of the constitution amendment proposal.

A parliamentary committee investigating irregularities in cooperatives grilled Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairperson Rabi Lamichhane this week. Lamichhane denied any involvement in the embezzlement of cooperative funds during his time working at a television channel.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Bin Hamood Albusidi also visited Nepal this week to discuss bilateral cooperation. The two sides discussed finalizing a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) covering labor and manpower exchange, health cooperation, tourism, and diplomatic studies and training. 

That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend!