Way of governance

Political parties and their leaders should develop their governance-literacy, skill and competence for governance if they want to improve their image and trust level among the people. Internal organizations of political parties should take the point very seriously and begin working on this as soon as possible if they seek to contribute more to the second cycle of federalism in the country beginning in 2023. Leaders who aspire after power should also train themselves for the purpose. If they do not learn the art and skill of governance they might do something that would result in governance deficit which is experienced often in Nepal. The latest incident to this effect could be found in the controversy surrounding Nepal’s government functioning in relation to a friendly Government’s State Partnership Programme. Contradicting statements from different ministries over the SSP indicate lack of transparency, want of inter-ministerial cooperation and understanding, bypassing political leadership, carelessness in handling issues related to friendly countries, inaccuracy in reporting of national, international importance by some news outlets and some social media’s attempt to do politics by spreading propaganda about sensitive issues. All these could have been handled well and with competence had the offices concerned taken care of good governance and followed code of conduct of Nepal Government including diplomatic code of 2012, allocation of business rules, and transaction of business rules. Political leaders should be aware of their rights and duties as soon as they accept the governance-responsibilities. The current trend of blaming each other for any wrong and taking credit for good things is not right for any party. They should develop a trend of taking accountability for whatever they do as part of government. The ruling coalition parties and the opposition party and some other political parties have been in government in one way or another for short or long duration in the past decade. They should take responsibilities for what they did or could not do and they should avoid the tendency to pass blame on others for things gone wrong during their time. All these would be possible if political parties and leaders understand the importance of learning the art and skill of governance while in power. Working as a political leader and functioning as a public official through the public office are two different things and require varied skills. If this point could be taken seriously in practice future controversies over sensitive issues could be avoided. The same would enable the governance mechanism of the country.