For the past two years, the country is devoid of elected local bodies, which are considered as the flagship of representative and participatory democracy. By failing to extend the tenure of elected representatives two years ago, then government committed a blunder triggering the systematic collapse of the pillars of grass-root democracy. Worse than the destruction of physical infrastructures, the void has resulted in the logjam in local leadership; development standstill and reverse decentralization. Even though it can use the option of restoring the elected bodies, the government is floundering with ‘innovative’ ideas. In fact, the current government has moved one step back by re-appointing government officials even though the ruling UML party had won two-thirds of positions in the previous local elections. All this is occurring at a time when the Maoists have launched vicious attacks against the vitals of grass-root democracy. Almost half of the VDC buildings have been destroyed – and along with them the values of local democracy, too, have been trampled. At a time when the nation is in the throes of extreme instability; more not less devolution of power to the local bodies could address many ills plaguing it

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Ghanashyam Khatiwada served as chairman of the remote Letang VDC of Morang district for one decade. Representing the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party Khatiwada won two elections. Two years ago when then government (led by present Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba) failed to extend the tenure of elected bodies even though it could not hold new elections, Khatiwada, like 216,000 other elected local representatives was booted out of the office.

However, two years down the line, Khatiwada has no time to relax. People still keep coming to him with various problems. Whether they have to get a citizenship certificate, birth certificate, marriage certificate, death certificate or passport; whether they want some basic infrastructures in the village, they always knock his door.

“The people never go to the VDC secretaries appointed by the government. Though I no more have any authority, they keep coming to me and I have to help them with the process,” said Khatiwada.

Khatiwada’s state is shared by most of the former elected representatives. “There is no way the people are going have faith on some bureaucrats appointed by the government whose loyalty will always be towards his masters,” added Jeebachha Shaha, former chairman of Phulbariya VDC of Siraha district.

Krishna Prasad Sapkota, president of the District Development Committee Federation (DDC Federation) and former president of Kavre DDC, wishes to term the decision to create a vacuum in the local bodies two years ago as the ‘biggest blunder’ on the part of the government.

“We are currently witnessing how this political vacuum has been exploited by the Maoists and how the absence of elected officials is resulting in the systematic decimation of the principles, norms and values of democracy,” said Sapkota.

The vacuum in local bodies is not a minor issue. The nation had invested billions of rupees and priceless time and efforts in promoting the concept of decentralization through local governance. Since the time of Panchayat regime, Nepal practiced the local governance.

The late King Mahendra had introduced the local government concept through the establishment of Village Panchayat, City Panchayat, District Panchayat and so on. Many prominent leaders of then banned parties also took part in those elections. The practice of local bodies during party-less Panchayat regime succeeded in instilling sense of democracy and ownership. Moreover, it groomed a lot of leaders, many of whom are active in current multi-party democracy set-up as well. Leaders like Arjun Narsingh KC of Nepali Congress (NC), Rajendra Pandey of the UML, Buddhiraj Bajracharya apart from most of the leaders of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) got the first lessons of electoral politics and local democracy during that period.

Efforts to demolish the grass-root democracy are going to have a long-term effect on the development of democracy in the country. Already thousands of formerly elected officials out of over 200,000 that were elected in the local elections of 2054 (1997) have started to hang up their gloves. “Thousands of them are displaced. Thousands others have left for jobs overseas in the middle-east or other countries. These were the local leaders that had been developed after huge investment by the state. Unfortunately, nobody has given any attention to this situation,” rued Ganga Lal Tuladhar, former MP and a leader of the UML.

Strangely, at a time when the major political parties conducted big agitation against regression, they did not raise the issue of local bodies with the same strength. Even the UML party, which had made the restoration of elected bodies as one of its major agenda, ate its words once it went to power.

Minister for Local Development Yubaraj Gyawali, an influential leader of the UML, has assured that he would soon make an ‘appropriate’ decision to run the local bodies. But he seems to be unable to convince his coalition partners about the need of the hour. Instead of restoration, there are now talks of forming four-party committees to operate the local bodies.

In 2054 election, the UML had swept two-thirds of the total seats in the local bodies and it had a party interest in restoration of the elected bodies. When even such party is unable to restore the elected local units, it is anybody’s guess what course the country is taking with regards to the functioning of the local bodies.

Back To Square One

After the new government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba came to office over three months ago, there was an expectation that it would rectify the past mistakes in operating the local bodies.

Instead, the government replaced the nominated leaders of local bodies by re-appointing the government officials like secretaries, Local Development Officers (LDOs) and chief executives to head VDCs, DDCs and municipalities. The move effectively brought the country back to square one to the day two years ago when PM Deuba refused to extend the tenure of local bodies even though he could not hold new elections.

In the interregnum during the tenure of Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa a year ago, the government had initiated efforts to nominate political persons to run the bodies. The government did give first priority to appoint the former elected representatives in their respective posts.

Unfortunately, the leading parties like the UML, NC and others refused even to acknowledge Thapa government terming it as regressive and lost an opportunity to re-induct elected officials. Some former representatives like Kathmandu mayor Keshav Sthapit accepted the offer and operated the bodies for a couple of months.

Sthapit launched with vigor the development efforts like road expansion in the city and helped people forget that there was a vacuum in the metropolitan.

“When even nominated persons like Sthapit can do so much, just imagine what could happen if all the elected representatives are re-installed,” said an official at the Ministry of Local Development.

However, the government seems bent on operating the bodies through bureaucrats. “It is ludicrous to think that plans drafted in the center by agencies like the National Planning Commission would always be appropriate at local level,” concedes Chitra Lekha Yadav, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and a central leader of the ruling NC (Democratic). “I have found in the past that center makes plans guessing certain parts will be affected by drought and certain parts by flood, which might not be correct in reality,” she added.

Another politician Bhuwan Pathak of the ruling RPP also shares Yadav’s views. “It is very true that there is no alternative to elected representatives operating the local bodies,” he said.

Destroyed Values

In the last nine years of insurgency, local units became the favorite target of the Maoists. Out of the total 3913 VDCs, buildings of 2000 VDCs were destroyed – some partially some completely.

Priceless documents, development plans, among others, were also destroyed along with the buildings. According to Ghanashyam Khatiwada, who is a central member of National VDC Federation, up to 150 VDC functionaries have already been killed due to the conflict. Over 31 were abducted. At least three mayors were also murdered and bombs were exploded at different municipality buildings and ward offices.

Such systematic campaign of decimation has not only resulted in human and property destruction but, equally importantly, in the destruction of democratic values, norms and principles.

“The values of democracy like people’s participation, their voluntary consent, rule of law have been severely undermined in the last two years when there were no elected bodies,” said Khatiwada. “Likewise, accountability, responsibility, transparency and efficiency were sacrificed in the same period. The government appointed bureaucrats as well as nominated heads were unable to work as per the spirit of the local self governance.’

All agree that degradation of values could be an irreparable loss for the country, which is still struggling to sustain democracy.

Stalled Grooming

Local bodies used to provide a perfect field for grooming elected leadership – the vanguards of democracy. Ever since the Panchayat regime, people contested elections at the local level and practiced a democratic exercise, which stood them in good stead after the restoration of democracy in the country in 1990. Many former leaders joined and even succeeded in the democratic environment.

Leadership cannot be built overnight. It has to be groomed. And what better way than to groom it from the grass-root level. However, due to the impasse in the local bodies for the past two years, this process of grooming, too, has suffered.

Worse, the vacuum in the local level, has rendered many leaders that were coming up useless. Many of them have already deserted their natives. “It could take another decade for us to fully recover from the obstruction in the grooming process that we are witnessing at present,” said a politician.

One of the essences of local governance is to provide the nation with tried and tested leaders. Nobody better than Nepalese people understand the importance of efficient leadership at present when their nation is groping in the dark in the want for the same. Just like the Panchayat grass-root exercise provided readymade leadership that could be used after the restoration of democracy; we need a lot of tested leaders to sustain the democracy in this crucial period.

More Devolution Is The Answer

Even as the country is gripped in instability and the local bodies remain without proper representatives, the DDC and VDC Federations, activists, experts and even officials agree that more devolution is key to solving various problems facing the country.

The Local Self Governance Act of 1998 marked a watershed transformation in the concept of local democracy in Nepal. “But due to various weaknesses and non-implementation, the Act has not been able to bring about the desired changes,” said Sapkota. “We need sector-wise full devolution of power accompanied by capacity building trainings and resources,” he added.

They point out the existing contradictions in different government acts. “While the LSGA allows the local body to raise certain taxes, other acts of the government prevent it from doing so. There are many such examples,” conceded Udaya Nepali Shrestha, former government secretary and the current vice chairman of Law Reforms Commission.

“It has been recognized all over the world that without human rights, good governance and decentralization, democracy will not be sustainable,” said Dr. Hikmat Bista, chief advisor at the DASU/DANIDA. “In our country, we first need our leaders to fully comprehend the significance of decentralization and implement it without any hitches.”

From the side of the civil society, Rural Development Foundation (RDF) – an NGO which has been active in the sector of decentralization, among others – has even prepared a draft strategy for the sectoral devolution of power from center to local level. It has also organized extensive discussions with the government officials and political leaders to fine-tune the strategy, which could herald a new chapter in the Nepal’s march towards full decentralization. “Our aim is to present the authorities with a game plan to push the decentralization process vigorously and effectively,” said Krishna Man Pradhan, president of the RDF.

As per the sectoral devolution, sectors like agriculture, health, education, rural infrastructures, forest, tourism etc have been identified. “We have clearly demarcated the authority between the center and the local bodies in different sectors in the proposed strategy,” said Dinesh Thapaliya, a member of the team that formulated the proposed strategy who is also an under secretary at the Local Development Ministry.

Not only the people inside Nepal, even donors and international partners have stressed on the importance of decentralization to build a strong nation. Even during the 1950s, the United States Operation Mission (USOM) undertook development efforts establishing village level agriculture and rural development units to assist Nepal in this direction. Today’s local bodies are the expanded faces of those units.

At present a number of bilateral donors and INGOs are helping the country in this regard including the DASU/DANIDA, SNV, ESP/DFID, SDC, GTZ, PDDP/UNDP and Australian Embassy.

As there exists wide support for the process of decentralization, the government needs to cash in the opportunities and set its record straight starting with the restoration of elected officials and conducting elections in proper time. Otherwise, the local bodies will not sink alone. They will drag with them the whole edifice of democracy and nationhood.