The main opposition Nepali Congress has made public its position on constitutional amendments.
Party President Gagan Thapa unveiled the party's views on constitutional amendments at an event held at the party's central office in Sanepa on Thursday. The document was prepared by an expert committee formed to study and provide recommendations on constitutional amendments.
Thapa said that the central focus of constitutional amendments should be good governance and effective public service delivery. He also expressed concern that these issues have been overshadowed in the ongoing constitutional reform debate.
He asserted that in accordance with the party's election manifesto, the Nepali Congress is prepared to reform not just laws, but the very constitutional provisions that serve as their source, to ensure good governance.
He particularly questioned the appointment process for constitutional bodies such as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
Thapa argued that although the Constitutional Council was established to check the prime minister's unilateral powers and maintain balance, it has failed to function as intended.
“The issues that should be discussed the most in the context of constitutional amendments have been pushed into the background. The most important issue at present is related to good governance and service delivery. That is why the Nepali Congress had also clearly stated in its manifesto that regarding good governance, we are ready to reform not only laws, but also their constitutional foundations if required,” he said.
Speaking about the CIAA, Thapa added: “ We have given the biggest responsibility for controlling corruption to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. The appointments of the chief and other officials of this commission are to be made through the Constitutional Council. The idea behind this arrangement was to ensure that appointments would not be made unilaterally by political leadership such as the prime minister or the speaker."
He added, “Therefore, the Constitutional Council was created to maintain a balance of power, with the participation of various constitutional office-bearers. However, experience has shown that appointments through the Constitutional Council were increasingly influenced by political parties’ interests and power-sharing rather than merit. Appointments to constitutional bodies, especially the CIAA, started being made on the same basis. Gradually, the situation reached a point where power-sharing was no longer limited to political parties; there was talk of power-sharing involving even the appointment of chief justice.”
Addressing the independence of the CIAA, Thapa stressed that a body supposed to investigate even the government and the prime minister should not remain under political shadow.
"The CIAA is an institution that must be able to investigate independently if even the prime minister, ministers, or any other government official commits corruption. If others commit corruption, the government can look into it, but if the prime minister himself commits corruption, the CIAA has been given the authority to investigate it," he said.
“Earlier, there was concern that people appointed through party leaders’ influence would turn the commission into a shadow of the party. We tried to reform that. But now there is growing worry that a person who cannot remain independent from the prime minister’s influence, who fears the prime minister, or gets startled at the mere sight of the prime minister might lead the CIAA.”
He added: "If the head of the CIAA cannot remain free from the prime minister's influence or pressure, the objective of controlling corruption cannot be achieved. Controlling corruption is the commission's primary responsibility, and corruption is the greatest enemy of the federal governance system," he said.
Describing corruption as the biggest enemy of federalism, Thapa said good governance would not be achieved without structural reforms.
He stressed that discussions on constitutional amendments should be moved forward by prioritizing such serious issues.
The Nepali Congress had formed the expert committee under the coordination of party Vice-president Pushpa Bhusal to study and submit recommendations regarding constitutional amendments. The committee includes senior advocates Radheshyam Adhikari, Harihar Dahal, Prem Bahadur Khadka, Upendra Keshari Neupane, Sher Bahadur KC, Yadunath Khanal, Gopal Krishna Ghimire, Yogendra Bahadur Adhikari, Dinesh Tripathi, Sitaram KC, Lalit Kumar Basnet, and advocates Rana Bahadur Thebe, Sharmila Shrestha, and Jhalamaya BK.
