Governments are frequently formed and are easily overthrown in Nepal. Over the past 35 years since the restoration of democracy in 1990, 32 governments have come into being. With the country’s transition to federalism in 2015, even the provinces have not been an exception to this trend. This kind of government instability has had a big impact on Nepal’s development efforts: a government—federal or provincial—introduces an ambitious programme, only for the succeeding one to abandon it. Such a practice has not only eroded people’s faith in state machinery but also wasted billions of rupees of taxpayer money.

Leaders of mainstream political parties, when in government, often rush to come up with new projects and programmes to please certain constituencies. Yet they don’t then enact necessary laws or allocate a budget for it. Take, for instance, the ‘Karnali Samriddhi Pariyojana’ (Karnali Prosperity Project) introduced by Karnali Province’s chief minister—CPN (Maoist Centre)’s Raj Kumar Sharma—who was elected in the second provincial assembly. During his tenure, he set aside approximately Rs1.5 billion for the project, prepared legal drafts and also created a taskforce for the purpose. However, the project got not a penny when he was in power; nor was there a law in place. As a result, the succeeding government rolled it back.

Sometimes, projects are introduced for a good cause. But even these suffer at the hands of the succeeding governments, often because they come from a different political party. Karnali Province’s ‘Chief Minister Women’s Income Generation Programme’, introduced in fiscal year 2021-22, is a case in point. Even though the programme was well-received, Dalit-friendly, and changed the lives of many women in the province by engaging them in income-generating opportunities, it was scrapped. As of this writing, the programme remains dormant. Another well-functioning programme, ‘Bank Account for Daughters, for Secure Life’, has suffered the same fate.

At the federal level, leaders have engaged in blame games. In the past, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairperson of the Maoist Centre, has lambasted the KP Sharma Oli-led government for scrapping “important plans and programmes” aimed at uplift of Dalits, women and marginalised communities that were introduced by his government, apparently to push Oli’s own policies and programmes. Likewise, Oli has at times criticised Dahal for introducing programmes that lack direction, are ineffective and objectionable. The incumbent federal government, led by Sushila Karki, has also drawn criticism for freezing the budget introduced by the previous Oli-led government, and public projects have stalled as a result. Such a tug-of-war sets a dangerous precedent.

Nepal urgently needs a standard policy that prioritises the completion of introduced programmes—if they are genuine. There is nothing wrong with a Congress government giving continuity to a well-meaning programme introduced by, say, a CPN-UML government. In fact, such cross-party, long-term coordination should be encouraged. On the other hand, incumbent leaders should be more mindful of the impact of the programmes they introduce. For example, bringing the ‘Digital Karnali’ campaign in a province where only 67.5 percent of Karnali’s population has access to electricity is a waste of money and resources.

But, overall, much effort and resources are spent during the introduction of even a single programme or project. Any project which is in the interest of the public deserves continuation; political leaders would do well not to judge them solely on whether they meet their own partisan interests and needs.