One of the striking features of Nepal’s much-maligned 1991 Constitution was that it devolved power to local government units like DDCs, VDCs and municipalities. The Decentralisation and Local Self-governance Act of 1999 turned this concept into law. Much of the success of the community forestry program, the nationwide network of Female Community Health Volunteers, mothers’ and farmers’ groups, and the extraordinary progress in health and education in the past two decades were in large part because decision-making was handed over to elected district and village councillors.
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Unfortunately, it has been downhill ever since. First, the Maoists bombed VDC infrastructure out of existence. They killed or chased away local elected officials, mainly from the Nepali Congress (the same party, ironically, that the rump Maoists are in the coalition government with today). What was still intact was dismantled by King Gyanendra, who got current Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to call off the 2002 local elections, using the Maoist war as a convenient excuse. Nepal never really got to reap the peace dividend after 2006 because the two warring sides became part of a political cartel that took turns in government. They controlled local government units through ‘political mechanisms’, a euphemism for mafia-like syndicates.
Finally, two decades later, we are in the process of installing bigger and more empowered, elected village and municipal councils. The new Constitution has ensured that elections to these local governments are inclusive, and the results of the two phases of local elections have put unprecedented numbers of women and the marginalised into local policy- and decision-making positions. Despite misgivings and grievances among sections of Tarai-based parties about the Constitution which still need to be addressed, we are finally seeing the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.