Minister for Law, Justice and Federal Affairs Lila Nath Shrestha has said the government will take initiative to pass the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact from the House.
Talking with reporters at the Singha Durbar on Thursday, he said Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has already instructed to move the MCC forward. "I will now discuss with speaker about this in accordance to PM's instruction," he stated.
The government uses law minister to give business to the House. Law Minister Shrestha has talked about moving the MCC forward at a time when the government has been accused of not giving any business to the House.
PM Oli had mentioned the issue of MCC while addressing the nation on the Nepali New Year on Wednesday and accused the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (Maoist Center), that was part of CPN he chaired until the Supreme Court invalidated the unification of the Maoists with CPN-UML last month, of preventing the MCC from being tabled in the House for decision.
The MCC has been stuck at the House for a long time. It was to enter the construction phase from June 30, 2020 after House endorsement as per the previous schedule but could not be passed as the then ruling CPN was bitterly divided over the issue.
But government officials have been insisting the MCC is still not dead pointing that nowhere is it written that the agreement will be revoked if it is not endorsed by the House by that date.
CPN had hotly debated MCC even during the standing committee meeting in December 2019 with the erstwhile Maoists and those from Madhav Kumar Nepal faction of UML opposing it saying it should only be passed if it becomes clear that it is not part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy floated by America.
The US embassy in Kathmandu later issued a 10-point statement clarifying that the MCC is not part of military affairs.
The press statement, which it said was in response to a large number of queries from Nepali citizens, politicians, and members of the media about the MCC, claimed that every Nepali government since 2012 has been in favor of the MCC and that there is no military component to the compact.
The issue was raised even during the central committee meeting that concluded on February 2 and the party formed a task force to address the issue. The party formed the task force led by senior leader Jhala Nath Khanal and including Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and standing committee member Bhim Rawal as members on February 2 to study MCC to find out whether it is part of the American military strategy or not.
The task force recommended that it should not be endorsed without amendment. But Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali had put a 15-point dissenting opinion.
The party had discussed the MCC in many meetings leading up to the June 30 deadline but failed to reach agreement.
