Stand up, stand up!
Like last year, the opposition party was again left out of the annual conference for local government chairpersons.
It was important to meet them. And it would have been useful. But I couldn’t. So I’m sending them an open letter expressing my concerns over the CDG and the inclusion of party workers in the local development process.
Photo credit: Kuensel
Look for the Lam
The Paro Tsechu ended yesterday, with the unfurling of the Guru Thongdrel. His Majesty the King graced the final day of the popular festival, as thousands of people braved the cold and rain to receive the sacred thongdrel’s blessings.
Dasho Sangay Dorji, a leading dzongkha language expert, says that the gigantic tapestry was commissioned by the second Paro Penlop, Ngawang Choeda, and constructed by Lam Ngawang Rabgay more than 350 years ago.
Parops love to tell stories about their thongdrel. According to one, Lam Ngawang Rabgay sent a trader to Tibet to barter rice for brocade. But the trader was given strict instructions to deal only with the first businessman he would encounter there. The trader followed his Lama’s instructions faithfully and procured a Chinese merchant’s entire stock of brocade – that person was the first businessman that the trader had met in Lhasa. Back in Paro, the trader was amazed to discover that he had unknowingly purchased the exact types and amounts of brocade that was needed for the thongdrel.
In another story, the Parop Penlop himself traveled incognito to Tibet and gambled with Lhasa’s treasurer. The penlop won, and returned to Bhutan with the treasurer’s entire stock of brocade. That stock was exactly sufficient to construct his thongdrel.
The thongdrel, reputedly Bhutan’s first, features Guru Pema Jungey and his two consorts, surrounded by Guru Rimpoche’s eight manifestations, the Choe-Lung-Truel Sum, and Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. At the bottom of the thongdrel is one more figure: that of Lam Ngawang Rabgay, who made sure that future generations would gaze on him with eternal gratitude.
The banner, of Paro’s famous tsechu grounds, celebrates our rich heritage.
Most of the work at the Punatsangchu hydropower project, estimated to cost more than Nu 36 billion, is being contracted out to large Indian companies. And rightfully so. After all, we still don’t have enough in-house capacity to dig tunnels, erect dams and build powerhouses.
But mining? For stone? Now that, I’m sure we can all agree, is something we are good at!
Then why is the government allowing Indian companies – L&T, HCC and Gammon – to operate stone quarries for the Punatsangchu hydropower project?
And how will L&T, HCC and Gammon operate their mines when the Mines and Minerals Management Regulations 2002 clearly defines the eligibility to obtain a mining lease as:
Any Bhutanese individual, licensed firm or a company shall be eligible to obtain a mining lease.
To be doubly sure that only Bhutanese companies operate our mines, the Mines and Minerals Management Regulations goes on to define “company” as:
Any organization registered under the Companies Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2000.
I’ve reported the matter to the Anticorruption Commission.
Today, at Jagathang, Paro, a beautiful sight – women playing khuru, complete with dhar.
Where are the cheerleaders?
I smell danger.
The prime minister is going all out campaigning for state funding for political parties.
In January, the prime minister informed the business community in Phuensholing that both the political parties were facing severe financial difficulties. Referring to the Parliament’s decision not to provide state financing for political parties, the prime minister complained that:
We asked for financial support but, there was so much criticism about it being unconstitutional, we withdrew the plea … whatever the government had done so far is in accordance with the Constitution.
Shortly afterwards, in Gelephu, the prime minister told the community there that DPT needed state funds to run their offices. He explained that the reason the parliament could render state funding for political parties as unconstitutional, was because:
… although the DPT government outnumbered the opposition, they [the government] retreated.
Earlier this month, in Thimphu, at the annual dzongdag conference, the PM argued that he had not seen any rules in the Constitution that specifically prohibit state funding for political parties. And he threatened that, if funds were not made available for his party:
we might have to compromise sincerity and not serve the people anymore. We might even have to sell the party
And, the day before yesterday, in a press conference, he insisted that only state funding could rescue the political parties. He called for a “liberal interpretation” of the Constitution arguing that:
while there is no specific provision in the constitution to allow state funding and political parties, there is no provision prohibiting state funding either.
The PM continues to insist for state funding, in spite of the fact that the National Assembly had decided against it. And in spite of the speaker suggesting that the Constitution would first have to be amended, if the legislature wanted to discuss state financing for political parties.
Why do I smell danger? Because I am becoming increasingly convinced that, constitutional or not, the government plans to bulldoze state funding for parties in the next session of the Parliament.
Would they really do that?
Yes!
In fact, that’s exactly what the government did with the CDG. The Parliament hadn’t reached a resolution on the CDG. The National Council had called it unconstitutional, faulty, and ambiguous. And they had submitted the matter to His Majesty the King.
Yet the government passed the CDG. And they did so without even discussing it the National Assembly. Instead, the CDG was discretely incorporated in the annual budget.
I smell danger.
Lam Sangay
Yesterday, at the opening ceremony of ECB’s annual conference, I sat near Lam Sangay Dawa and his student-monks from Semtokha shedra. They were there, beside the choesham, microphone in hand, ready to preside over the sacred marchang ceremony.
The marchang, which was composed and popularized by Zhabdung Ngawang Namgyal, is an offering of wine – an oblation – to the lama, yidam, pawo, khandrum, choechong sungma, neydag and zhidag to secure their blessings for the removal of obstacles, and for the successful outcome of the endeavour being inaugurated.
Naturally, the sacred ceremony is important. And Lam Sangay and his monks were at hand, happy to provide the spiritual and psychological support needed to ensure the success of the new endeavour.
And what was the endeavour? It was the Election Commission of Bhutan’s Second Annual Conference. But Lam Sangay Dawa, who would lead the prayers, did not know it. He hadn’t been told.
So after exchanging a few pleasantries, he turned to me and asked, “What are we inaugurating today?” He explained that he needed to visualize the purpose of the marchang ceremony. And that he wished to offer his own prayers for the successful outcome of whatever it was that we were launching.
We had asked Lam Sangay and his monks for their help. And they had obliged. But somehow, we had forgotten to explain why we needed their help – why we wished to invoke our guardian deities.
And it’s not just the ECB. Lam Sangay Dawa, who is 56 years old and has already spent 46 of those years in the monk body, confided that he’s hardly ever told why he’s asked to perform the sacred marchang ceremony.
The cabinet’s website is actually quite good. It is clean, simple, quick and easy to navigate.
And it provides useful information. That is, until they stopped posting the government’s executive orders, cabinet decisions and press releases.
So in my previous post, I didn’t mean to complain that the cabinet’s website was bad in any way. What I did mean, however, was to point out that the cabinet had stopped sharing important information on their website.
Unless they compromise national security, executive orders and cabinet decisions must be made public. Otherwise how should we know what our government is doing?
As Pema Tenzin, one commentator, put it: “The issue here is wanting to be transparent and accountable.”
Total solution?
I trust that part of the Nu 2.05 billion total solutions project will go towards updating the cabinet’s website – for some odd reason, the cabinet has stopped publishing their executive orders, cabinet decisions, and press releases on their website.
Dr Prajapati Trivedi recently talked about the performance appraisal system he’s developing in India. Our civil servants, some of who have already signed performance compacts, may find his insights useful.
On the importance of implementation: The big difference between the developed country and developing ones is not so much about strategising and planning but implementation.
On how performance contracts are prepared: The document is prepared with internal consultations within specific ministries, aligned with government’s annual and five-yearly plans and is vetted and approved by a high power committee on government performance led by the cabinet secretary.
On who judges performance against targets: Instead of government doing it, we have formed an independent, non-government task force of 15-20 people as knowledge partners. They are a set of IIM professors, ex-secretaries. The key to success was having a large competent and independent group of experts.
On why performance contacts will work: The biggest motivation will come from naming and shaming.
On how else performance will be rewarded: A committee of secretaries is meeting to discuss how to link up performance with pay … up to 40 percent of the basic salary could be linked to performance … Promotions, especially from joint secretary to the additional secretary level, will become more rigorous.
Dr Trivedi is the Secretary of Performance in the Indian Cabinet, and is widely considered India’s “Chief Performance Officer”. His department’s website provides a wealth of resources for governments seeking to redirect their orientation from processes to results.
“Everything in life is watched and seen beyond the strength of the naked eye,” says Passang Tobgay describing his painting “Under the Watchful Eye”.
Passang, who graduated in traditional painting from the Institute for Zorig Chusum, is a member of VAST. He taught traditional painting before exploring modern art to communicate his ideas and emotions.
“Under the Watchful Eye” is currently on display at VAST’s Spring Art Exhibition. The exhibition, which is at the Tarayana Centre, runs through April.
Tshering Tobgay is a Member of Parliament representing Sombaykha Constitutency in Haa. He is the Leader of the Opposition Party in the National Assembly of Bhutan.
Is ACC taking too long to start investigating the Gyelpozhing land case?
Total Voters: 352