The Paro Trip: Over and again!

At home

Among all the things that are going in the country, I have been paying attention on the return of the Prime Minister from visits abroad. What is your opinion when you see a picture like the one on the Kuensel link?

My personal observations and their Pros and Cons are:

Advantages:

• A symbol of respect and tradition. Keep it alive!
• Update on what has happened in the country during the duration of travel from Paro to Thimphu (more than 1hr), good way to make use of the time.
• Give some fresh company to the PM on his return. Excellent service to His Excellency.
• Added security and service.

Disadvantages:

• Waste of at least a half day’s working time for all involved. For instance with 2 ministers we are talking of at least 2 Personal Secretaries, securities and drivers etc. Many meetings and appointments might be getting postponed/delayed due to such duties/services which would have a pyramidal effect on the system.
• More than 100kms of travel by each car. This is economically bad and environmentally insane.
• No net benefit. The ministers or secretaries on reception might get to interact with the PM and others returning only for 15-20mins in the airport. Back into their own cars and drive back to Thimphu. Do we really need to travel 100kms for a 15 minutes reception?

When the Prime Minister goes to the UN general meeting or SAARC meeting then maybe another minister could accompany to see off and receive on return based on some merits I mentioned above. But definitely not for every travel out of the country and by more than one minister. The Chief of Protocol of the Cabinet Secretary is all that will be required to receive, provide all the services and update the PM on all the events/news.

I don’t really know how things are done in other countries. But Bhutan has always been special and intelligently unique. Let us use some of our intelligence in this aspect too. I am not sure, but it is part of our tradition to see off and receive our Ghoms( Ghom Da Yoeg Gi Dueshee). However, those were the days when people used horses or walked hills and most importantly made few visits in their lifetime out of the region.

When our Kings travel abroad, it’s exceptional and the PM is a special one too. But then, by the virtue of his responsibility, he/she would be required to travel quite frequently out of the country. Therefore, if we keep doing that for every ministers’ visit out of the country, we would have more people in rural villages waiting for basic services while be burn our resources and time between Thimphu and Paro doing nothing.