For Prime Minister Balendra Shah and his coterie of advisers, it has been an eventful week between the holidays, even as the rift between the RSP and its own government continues to grow.

The PMO has been dealing with several leaks involving national security and judicial institutions, ordering the detention of journalists (while denying it) who reported on the very same leaks, and holding bureaucrats at the PMO in order to prompt them into canceling an important irrigation project.

And it all climaxed with the dismissal of Inspector General of Police Dan Bahadur Karki on Wednesday. Is the government multi-tasking, or firefighting?  

Spokesperson and Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel used doublespeak to explain that Karki was not technically ‘fired’ – he was simply ‘given a new responsibility’ of being the security adviser to the Prime Minister. 

Manoj KC, who had long been PM Shah’s favoured pick to lead the police, is now Nepal’s top cop. He is the man responsible for investigating the fake refugee scandal two years ago that implicated those at the top levels of government.

There has been no love lost between the Prime Minister and Karki, who is said to have resisted the PM’s direct instructions to detain businessmen, political figures, and recently, former Chief Justice Cholendra Rana without due process.  

But the straw that broke the camel’s back seems to have been the leaks over the last few days, including the government’s plan to replace Karki, and a correspondence between Supreme Court Justice Hari Phuyal and political fixer Inam Sapkota insinuating political interference in the judiciary. 

Then, it emerged that Prime Minister’s adviser Kumar (Ben) Byanjankar had himself been in conversation with Sapkota, and had Sapkota’s personal phone in his possession for up to 48 hours before the police got it.

GROWING DIVIDE

These are surface ripples of a deeper undercurrent of distrust between Prime Minister Shah and the establishment faction of the governing RSP led by party chair Rabi Lamichhane. The PM makes impulsive decisions, and RSP lawmakers have to do damage control. At a recent RSP meeting some ministers are said to have complained that they learn of the PMO’s decisions through the media.

On the removal of the IGP at least, Shah is said to have conferred on the matter with Lamichhane, but went ahead with the sacking despite being told it was a bad idea.

Recent events have shown that the PMO has grown increasingly insular, with the Shah’s unelected advisers having unchecked authority to even deploy the intelligence and security apparatus to nab critics or scrap project tenders they do not like.

The latest example is senior officials from the Department of Irrigation were virtually kidnapped, and held by the police before being taken to the PMO for hostile interrogation and forced to rescind a tender bidding process for the much delayed Sunkosi Marin Diversion Project that would irrigate Tarai farms and generate 28MW of electricity.

That the PM’s advisers wield total authority over state institutions is not new information, it is out in the open and every incident proves it is happening. The Prime Minister himself has been posting snide comments that verge on threats, while his adviser is said to have a black list of 28 journalists critical of the government.

Ahead of a proposed visit to New Delhi later this month, PM Shah appears to have no intention of keeping his circle of advisers in check. But posting satirical quips on social media will only take Shah and his right hand men so far. 

The RSP and Balendra Shah ran on a platform of cleaning up corruption and political collusion, promoting transparent government and holding the party leadership accountable. But the political and institutional rot that the PM promised to purge appears to have only burrowed deeper.  

 If the government is serious about setting itself apart from its predecessors, then the Prime Minister should treat the allegations over the motives and conduct of his adviser(s) with the same severity as he treats his opponents, his predecessors, businessmen, bankers, and other figures.

And the same public that elected Shah into office because of they trusted him to end institutionalised corruption, nepotism that has defined Nepali politics for at least the last two decades, should demand the same transparency and accountability of him and his team.

Shristi Karki