In May, the Balendra Shah government emptied 1,594 public positions overnight, through one sweeping ordinance. Classrooms, clinics and offices felt the gap, and the country held its breath to see who would sit down next. The question that emerged then was: What would guarantee that the new officials would not simply be political appointees close to the ruling party? It was a fair question then, and it is a fair one still.

Six months on, we know some of the answers, and they are troubling. A government that sweeps a house this loudly must lay the table with care. Too many of its choices were made before anyone asked the hard question: Was every candidate checked before the cabinet recommended them?

Take Lumbini. On October 16, the cabinet named Ani Choying Drolma vice-chair of the Lumbini Development Trust, filling a post that had been empty for nearly five months. She says every question about her has been answered, yet the Post found the record less certain. A money-laundering inquiry from 2018 and citizenship doubts from 2019 remain formally unresolved. Nobody has proved wrongdoing. But whoever leads the trust should arrive with every question closed. Instead, protests have run since October 17, and police arrested a campaign chair. Nobody needed this scene.

The ambassadorial nominees list tells a similar tale. The foreign ministry invited applications and drew more than 4,400, a welcome break after some seats had sat empty for nearly 10 months. Then the 13 names reached Parliament, where complaints were waiting. A hearing committee dominated by the ruling party turned down two nominees, a first for any House committee. Its chair said Giribahadur Sunar, proposed for Saudi Arabia, was removed after a woman complained of violence against her and told her story by video. Sunar has asked his accusers to produce evidence. Chudamani Kharel, proposed for Malaysia, did not meet the qualifications the rules demand. Jigyan Kumar Thapa, proposed for Japan, is on hold for his alleged citizenship of Japan. He says he gave up his permanent residency there in March. Party sources told the Post that Sunar and Kharel were seen as close to the prime minister's camp, and that Thapa’s name came on the Speaker’s behalf.

The committee did the checking the ministry should have done. The woman who told her story to strangers on a screen deserves a state that listens before it announces a name. A foreign ministry official called the process trial and error. Nepal’s face abroad cannot be chosen by trial.

The ruling Rastriya Swantantra Party calls the rejections proof that Parliament can check the executive, and that is fair. The lesson holds either way: a check at the last gate cannot stand in for a check at the first.

This problem can be mended in weeks. First, suspend the Lumbini appointment and give the money-laundering department and the citizenship authorities a specific timeframe, say 30 days, to publish their findings. If Drolma is cleared, she returns with her name restored. If she is not, Lumbini is spared a deep wound. Second, the foreign ministry should send the hearing committee every paper it asks for on Thapa, and fill the Saudi and Malaysian posts from applicants already screened, after background checks.

Third, make vetting a habit. Before any cabinet recommendation for a public post, state investigative bodies should check citizenship, taxes, financial records, conduct complaints and conflicts of interest, and pass the findings to the hearing committee. Publish the shortlist and the reasons for every pick, in every body the ordinance emptied.

A government that emptied some 1,600 chairs made a promise to the public. Fill those chairs with people who have been checked, and whom the public can look in the eye. Check first. Appoint second. Begin before the next name is called.