Amid reports that Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Sapkota is reluctant to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact in the House despite the government’s willingness, a group of civil society members have urged the major political parties to take action against him.

Issuing a joint statement Tuesday, fourteen civil society members including human rights activists, journalists, medical professionals and leaders of the conflict victims have claimed that action against Sapkota is necessary for the protection of the values and principles of the parliamentary system. “We appeal to citizens at large to be continuously alert in order to defend the high values of parliamentary democracy,” reads the statement.

They have claimed that it is the institutional and legal duty of the Speaker to facilitate the tabling of all bills presented by the government and it is expected that he demonstrates full neutrality. Our parliamentary system does not envisage an executive function for the Speaker, and the constitution and relevant laws regard the Speaker as a facilitator to ensure the smooth functioning of the House of Representatives, according to the statement. “Against these expectations, Sapkota has continuously violated the responsibilities and expectations vested in him,” reads the statement.

The statement from the civil society members comes at a time when Sapkota is busy soliciting ways to prevent the tabling of the MCC compact in the Lower House. He has been saying there has to be a consensus in the parties on the matter before it is tabled in the House. However, a national consensus does not seem possible as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) have stood against the US grant.

Sapkota was a Maoist Centre leader and a confidant of its chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal. “Sapkota has shown prejudice in his dealings with individual political parties, and his attempts to defend his behaviour have been self-serving and illogical,” reads the statement. It further claims that there are many instances to prove that, since the day he became Speaker, he has sought to evade the constitution and the relevant laws in order to exercise executive powers, such as holding up for two full years the discussion of a bill placed for consideration by the government.

Raising the issue of sub judice cases against Sapkota’s alleged involvement in forceful disappearances and killing, the civil society members have said he wasn’t qualified to become Speaker. He was elected Speaker in January 2020 after the resignation of Krishna Bahadur Mahara in October 2019.