Among the cabinet, not even a single
member had served at secretary level in their pass jobs forget about
ministerial level. The notion that the fresh leaders would bring fresh thinking
as some media has put in appears to be bit overstated. If what has transpired
from the First session of the Second Parliament is anything to indicate, we
have reason to worry. PDP government put on a poor show on every front. For governance,
there’s no room for trial and error.
In particular, the mechanism devised
by PDP for the revival of rupee situation through controversial 5B ‘Economic Stimulus
Plan’ seems to be absurd. By the way, this title as some economists say is not appropriate
in economic terms given the appreciated economic growth happening in the
country. Likewise, as pointed out by prominent Opposition member, Wangdi Norbu,
there’re many areas where government is weak at.
PDP doesn’t seem to mind playing
with the egos at the cost of national interest. What I am talking about is the
PDP’s move to amend NA Act. The ground for amendment, as proudly announced by
PDP, is DPT’s president’s resignation. The cost of re-election has been
indicated as grievous concern. This one man’s resignation should not be construed
as sufficient ground for amendment. Why honorable JYT resigned is anybody’s
guess. Only history will be able to tell the truth. At best, it should have
left as ‘exceptional case.’ In essence, it is highly unlikely that an elected
MP would resign under ordinary circumstances. If the restriction is to be imposed, it’s only
going to complicate the process and compromise the individual rights under a
democratic setup.
In terms of performance at the NA,
MPs of ruling government are found to be way below the expectation. They conduct
themselves to prove far from professional and intelligent members. Some members
started to give discourse on what a pledge means at the parliament in a
desperate attempt to avert embarrassments. It is apparent that most of the
PDP’s 100 days pledges are bound to be left on paper. With such trend, the
‘change’ is inevitable. People just have to wait and see the events unfolded in
due course of time.
On the other hand, from the
Opposition side, what we see is only few MPs making their efforts. Most of the prominent
members are found keeping their mouth shut. Opposition being the most
knowledgeable and experienced, there’s great scope for the government to learn
from them which I believe will trickled down to benefit the people. Opposition is
the only hope of the people to fight with the government on their behalf. I am
sure DPT’s seasoned members have many wisdoms and critical issues that warrant
discussions for the interest of the nation but this is not happening at the
parliament.
To expect 100% perfection is bit of
a too much to ask but what the general public would love to see is that PDP
fulfill most of its pledges. The most governing factor that leads PDP win the
election is its pledges. Therefore, if PDP keeps on making excuses with its
pledges, the frustration of people will only going to grow. Now let’s not
forget that in Bhutan we don’t have strike system to negotiate with the
government to make it act in the way it deemed appropriate. In absence of such
mechanism, at best, it’ll be good to rely on strong Opposition to take care of
the people’s frustration and dissatisfaction with the government.
People cannot trust the government
for obvious reasons not by design but by default. It should be the responsible of
Opposition to keep strict vigil on the government and report the flaws, inform and
update the nation through well strategized forums. DPT should start official blogging on the issues related to government
activities, policies, actions etc. especially that warrants people’s attention
and inputs preferably through social media such as facebook/blog or any other relevant
social media. What has been opposed and discussed at the NA are limited in
scope and are not enough to make the government listen and act. Such verbal opposition at
the NA is also not readily accessible to many citizens. What we need is written
account of any issues that DPT thinks is not ok with the government. Besides,
it will not only serve as future reference but also help DPT in keeping touch
with the people.
For the greater cause of good, DPT should earnestly keep watchful eyes on PDP's governance and start official blogging to keep the nation informed on state of the nation.
