Almost six months ago, Tenzing Lamsang exposed the Gyelpozhing land grab case, and explained how laws of the land had been broken to acquire public land and redistribute them to influential people. A week after that, Dasho Neten Zangmo, the Anticorruption Commission Chairperson, was quoted as saying: We will look into the case and if [...]
Today, we celebrated traditional day of offering. Today is also exactly one year since Sonam Tshering was detained by officials for illegally possessing Nu 120 worth of Baba khaini. Sonam Tshering has already been in jail for one full year. So today, on traditional day of offering, I thought about how we, parliamentarians, should offer [...]
Last Saturday, more than two months after Business Bhutan broke their story about alleged land grabbing in Gyelpozhing by senior public servants, the Anticorruption Commission announced that they: “… are in the process of studying laws related to land, policy issues, analysing and re- viewing the complaints they received with regards to Gyalpoizhing land case.” [...]
Lhab Tshering has been in detention since 31st January. On that fateful day, he was caught with 64 packets of chewing tobacco (Baba khaini) at the Chunzom checkpoint. He didn’t have a receipt to prove that he possessed the khaini legally. So he was charged for smuggling tobacco under the Tobacco Control Act. Yesterday, the [...]
Yesterday, the government released the Tobacco Control Rules and Regulations. The rules, which come a week after the government had issued guidelines to relax the implementation of the Tobacco Control Act, have made matters even more complicated. According to the rules, we will not be sent to jail for attempting to bring tobacco into the [...]
After several friends suggested it, I’ve added a new page called “News clips”. The idea is to provide links to news articles, especially to critical ones, that talk about what the opposition party and I have been doing. The first link is to a story by Kuensel. It’s about the growing influence of social media [...]
Denis Healey, a British politician, once famously said: “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” Digging. That’s what the government is doing by issuing guidelines to relax the implementation of the controversial Tobacco Control Act. According to the guidelines: Any Bhutanese bringing in tobacco products, more than the permissible quantity for personal consumption through designated [...]
The Tobacco Control Act is going out of control. The Thimphu district court sentenced Gelong Sonam Tshering, a monk, to 3 years in prison for possessing a mere 48 packets of chewing tobacco. He appealed to the High Court. But the High Court has upheld the 3-years prison sentence. Countless others – I’ve lost count [...]
The International Tobacco Control Bhutan Report has recently established that the majority of the Bhutanese support tobacco control. According to the report, 95% of us disapprove of tobacco consumption due to religious reasons. And 97% of us support strict tobacco control. The report seems to have given the government a renewed sense of confidence in [...]
Day before yesterday, when members of the National Assembly met to discuss the preliminary agenda for the Assembly’s next session, the opposition party proposed that a bill to amend the Tobacco Control Act be considered. It has not yet been one year since the Tobacco Control Act was adopted, but according to Section 193 of [...]
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.
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