No silver lining

The first six months of the Oli government has been woeful any way you evaluate it

The KP Sharma Oli government’s first six months have been disappointing. In fact, looking back, it is hard to think of a single successful initiative of this government. Even the much-celebrated ‘breakthrough’ in the transitional justice process proved to be a dud after the failure to pick the office-bearers of the two transitional justice bodies, partly due to the meddling of top ruling party leaders. The strong coalition of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML that came to office with the promise of political stability, good governance, swift service delivery, economic revival and constitution amendment has fallen short on all these fronts. The government may have had a near two-thirds parliamentary majority but, from Day One, it has been a subject of endless speculations over its tenure. On governance, the prime minister himself made a mockery of his exalted office when he accepted a donation from a controversial businessman to build an office for his party, UML. Capital expenditure has been poor, inflation is on the up and people don't have money in their hands. On constitution amendment, the lesser said the better: The prime minister one day rules out amendment for the next five years; the next day, senior Congress leaders chide him for such ‘irresponsible’ remarks.