The government needs to understand what they can do and what they cannot do. Last month, on October 27, during a press conference the finance minister announced that, “… while tshogpas deserve a raise, there is not enough money to raise their salary.” Furthermore, he clarified that, “an increment in the salary should be approved [...]
The Thimphu Thrompon recently ignored the “attic rule” by allowing the attics on 31 buildings to be replaced by an additional floor each. The government, which had earlier not responded to the Thrompon’s proposal to nullify the rule, reacted by quickly approving the proposal last Friday. On Monday, members of Dagana’s Dzongkhag Tshogdu, led by [...]
The local government elections are over. And the new gups – the heads of local governments – have started taking their charge throughout the country. But a dozen gewogs still don’t have gups. Goenshari in Punakha yielded a two-way tie. The election results in Bjabcho in Chukha was nullified as the winning candidate turned out [...]
During a recent meeting with gups, the PM reminded the local government leaders that, “The constituency development grant of Nu 2M … was not fully used in most gewogs”. And he advised them to put the CDG “… to use to benefit the poor and contribute towards alleviating poverty.” The PM makes it sound like [...]
Have you been to Haa? Chances are you haven’t. You haven’t been to Haa, because you probably didn’t have any work there – you didn’t have the reason to go. And you probably haven’t been there, because, like most people, you think that the journey from Thimphu to Haa is long and arduous. But there’s [...]
The elections for local government are over. So soon, and for the first time, we will have local governments – thromde tshogdes, gewog tshogdes and dzongkhag tshogdus – elected and empowered by the Constitution according to which: Power and authority shall be decentralized and devolved to elected Local Governments to facilitate the direct participation of [...]
The Budget Appropriation Bill for 2011-12 proposes how Nu 42,174 million of the government’s Consolidated Fund will be divided during the coming financial year. Central agencies will keep a good 74% of the funds. The 20 dzongkhags together will get about 20% of the funds. And the 205 gewogs combined will get barely 6% of [...]
The Election Commission of Bhutan is correct in cautioning the government that the local government elections would be incomplete and unconstitutional if those elections were conducted without first finalizing the yenlag thromdes (satellite towns). Yenlag thromdes have still not been identified for the Dzongkhags. So holding the local government elections now would, as ECB maintains, [...]
The ECB’s “functional literacy and skills test” for candidates to local government elections is comprehensive. Aspiring candidates will have to take a written test to determine their computational, analytical, managerial and correspondence skills. And they will have to undergo an oral test to demonstrate their reading, writing and speaking skills. ECB’s diligence will, no doubt, [...]
Dasho Nima Wangdi, director general of finance, justifying the government’s decision to increase the allowances and benefits of gups, was quoted as saying that: The pay commission, which was not a full time committee, could be instituted by the government only for major systemic changes in pay and allowance structures. “In the gups’ case, the [...]
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?
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