Nepal interim government faces first hiccups

After prolonged negotiations over the weekend, Nepal’s new Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Monday appointed three members to her Council of Ministers, but the youth group that put her in power does not like her choice.

The GenZ group that initiated the movement that toppled Nepal’s government accused Karki of not being consulted about the choice of Om Prakash Aryal, a lawyer who was helping with negotiating with the Army, as the Home and Law Minister. 

GenZ’s purported leader Sudan Gurung led a group of his supporters and families of youth killed in last week’s demonstration at a midnight protest outside the prime minister’s residence, demanding Karki’s resignation unless she listened to them.

Aryal is also a legal adviser to Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah, who has supported the GenZ movement but refused their offer to lead the interim government. 

The other two ministers include former Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal as Finance Minister, and the popular former chief of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kulman Ghising as the Energy Minister, Urban Development Minister, and Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. They were sworn in on Monday.

While Prime Minister Karki has said she wants competent and honest technocrats in the Council of Ministers, GenZ has been pushing for candidates that do not seem to meet her criteria — including a military officer and Mayor Balen Shah’s candidate. 

Karki’s list is said to include retired Lt Gen Balananda Sharma,  Magsaysay Award winner Mahabir Pun of the National Innovation Centre, former Education Minister Sumana Shrestha who quit RSP on Sunday and Dharan Mayor Harka Sampang.

Karki met the government machinery on Sunday at her Singha Darbar office. Speaking without a prepared text, she admitted that there had been a “huge loss” not just to government buildings but also to official and court records during the 9 September arson attacks.

“I am ashamed to say that there has been a systematic targeting of sensitive and essential government institutions, we will track down the perpetrators and investigate them,” she said.

Karki also assured officials that she had no intention of staying on as prime minister beyond 5 March, the date she has set for early elections. She added: “The destruction by criminal elements has added to our challenges, but we have to choose but to unite and rebuild. This movement was about ending corruption, improving governance and equality. Help me achieve those goals.”

KNOW YOUR MINISTERS

Om Prakash Aryal

Home Minister, Minister of Law

Back in 2016, Om Prakash Aryal filed a writ petition against the appointment of all powerful Lokman Singh Karki to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), paving way for the impeachment of the head of the anti-graft body together with Prime Minister Sushila Karki, who was then Chief Justice.

An advocate at the Supreme Court, Aryal gained widespread fame for his work in Public Interest Litigation. Most recently, earlier this year he filed a petition against then Prime Minister K P Oli and Minister for Land Management Bala Ram Adhikari, among others, for their alleged role in the non-implementation of Supreme Court order in the Giribandhu tea estate land scam in eastern Nepal.

Aryal came from Gulmi to Kathmandu to be a singer, but ended up pursuing a career in law instead.

Aryal also served four years in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and was based in Geneva with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).

Rameshore Khanal

Finance Minister

Former Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal has over 30 years of experience in the civil service, and led reforms in government accounting and reporting, public procurements, tax policy and administration. He also served as Chair of the Board in Agricultural Development Bank and was Board Director in Nepal Rastra Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Nepal Telecom Company, and Nepal Airlines. He also served as an economic adviser to Baburam Bhattarai when he was prime minister in 2013.

In October last year, he led the government formed the High Level Economic Reforms Recommendation Commission. The 440-page recommendation released last month included review of the fixed exchange rate with India and the provision for national political parties to receive grants so candidates did not have to depend on business donors at election time.

He has announced that he is not going to take a salary, official residence, body guard or official car for himself.

Kulman Ghising

Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister, Urban Development Minister, and Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport

The man credited for ending 18-hour-a-day loadshedding in Nepal was also considered for the post of Prime Minister before Sushila Karki was chosen by the GenZ movement on Friday. Ghising is a two-time CEO of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) before his tenure was cut short by the Oli-led governing coalition earlier this year and replaced by Hitendra Dev Shakya. Ghising’s removal was seen as being politically motivated, and outraged the public and commentators.

Many expected Ghising to open his own party ahead of the 2027 elections two years later, but is seen to be close to the Maoist-Centre party.

After being appointed NEA chief in 2016, Ghising cut off the dedicated electricity feeds to industries, and redistributed the saved power to the public — ending long power cuts. But he also imported electricity from India to ensure 24-hour supply during the winter dry season to meet demand. Several new hydropower plants came into operation during his tenure, and today Nepal had an electricity surplus. 

OTHER APPOINTMENTS

Elsewhere, Sabita Bhandari Baral has been appointed Nepal’s first female Attorney General. 

By Sunday, total casualties of the nationwide GenZ protests has reached 72. Prime Minister Karki has declared that bereaved families of those killed in the protests will be compensated while hundreds of those still receiving treatment in hospitals will be treated for free.