Politics
Oli pointed to tardy lawmaking. Why is the process so slow?
If Parliament and committees don’t clear bills on time, the prime minister says, it’s natural to resort to ordinances.
Binod Ghimire
The government has pointed to lack of timely endorsement of bills from Parliament as the reason for issuing six ordinances last month.
Addressing the inaugural meeting of the winter session on Friday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli claimed that it was natural for the government to opt for alternatives (ordinances) if Parliament fails to decide on the bills on time. He even called for a broad understanding among political parties to get all bills endorsed within two months of their registration.
“We can allocate an additional 30 days for the bills requiring intense discussions. If the bills don’t get through in 90 days, the government will opt for an alternative [ordinances],” he said, questioning the committees and MPs why some bills were taking years for parliamentary approval.
As Oli claimed, the federal parliament’s performance has been “pessimistic”. Besides the budget-related bills, it endorsed just 11 bills in more than two years since the 2022 election. Some bills, like an amendment to the Constitutional Council Act, registered in the House of Representatives, have been pending for around two years.
Similarly, bills related to amending the Commission of Investigation on Abuse of Authority Act and the Corruption Prevention Act registered in the National Assembly, have been awaiting endorsement for around half a decade.
Those who closely follow parliamentary proceedings agree that the lawmaking process has been slow, and as Oli claimed, it has affected the government's performance. However, they say it is necessary to assess the reasons for the delay first rather than imposing a blanket deadline for a bill’s endorsement.
“It is the responsibility of respective ministers to prioritise their bills. In most cases, they assign secretaries or joint-secretaries to deal with the matter,” senior advocate Radheshyam Adhikari, a former member of the National Assembly, told the Post. “Only if ministers take the issue seriously will the problem of delay be resolved.”
Adhikari said the ministers can request the House committees to prioritise their bills. They are responsible for communicating what amendments in the bills can be accepted or rejected—and why.
“I would not say two months or three months. However, if the ministers are proactive, deliberations won’t take years,” said Adhikari.
Other than lack of ministers’ proactiveness, lack of quorum (minimum presence of the lawmakers), absenteeism of lawmakers who register amendments, lack of House calendar and indecisive leaders of House committees are other factors for the sluggish rate of bill endorsement.
“It’s a paradox that lawmaking is not the first priority of our lawmakers. How can we expect the House to perform under such circumstances?” said Madhav Poudel, a former minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs and chairperson of the Nepal Law Commission. “The performance of the House has seen a substantial decline in the past seven-eight years.”
Poudel said that rather than fixing the deadlines for the endorsement of the bills, as the prime minister wants to do, both the chambers of Parliament and their committees have to work on a calendar detailing their tasks. Starting from the previous session, both the upper and lower houses have started preparing monthly and fortnightly calendars. However, there are no such calendars for parliamentary committees, which have a poor track record of clearing bills.
“Having yearly calendars can streamline discussions. This will also create moral pressure on the lawmakers to be present on the prescribed dates,” said Poudel. Deferral of House committee meetings is common as lawmakers fail to show up, saying the sittings were called on short notice.
Only last week, the meetings of the Public Accounts Committee and the State Affairs and the Good Governance Committee were deferred in the lack of quorum.
Experts on parliamentary affairs say that as the ruling parties command a comfortable majority, at least in the House of Representatives and its committees, the finalisation of bills should not be a problem if they work with urgency. If there is no consensus, the bills can be settled through votes.
“It’s all about setting your priority,” said Poudel. “If there is a will among the parties, most of the bills can be decided in a few months.”