Leadership deficit

Nearly nine months into government there are a lot of indications about the character and quality of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s leadership. And the indications are not good, to say the least. “Character is fate,” wrote Heraclitus, the sixth century BC Greek philosopher. If that’s true, little lies in store for Dahal, and it also means that our hopes for moral and visionary leadership may elude us once again.Leadership basically means four things—imagination, moral integrity, charisma and willpower. Forget about the past kings and Pancha prime ministers; even the democratically elected leaders failed to display leadership qualities.In post-1950 Nepal, the country’s modern political era, only two leaders stand out—B P Koirala and Madan Bhandari. Koirala displayed these qualities amply—he was an inspirational leader with high moral integrity and also a man of action and determination. Bhandari’s public life was too short to be judged on each of these counts but his charisma mesmerized people even then. He also showed wisdom and imagination in transforming what was still a radical party in 1990—the UML— into a moderate, left-of-centre party. Unfortunately, neither of them was tested long enough in power — Koirala was put in jail after one-and-half years of his premiership; Bhandari died in a car accident three years into public life and never made it to the highest office.The rest of the democratically elected leaders—Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala, Manmohan Adhikari and Sher Bahadur Deuba—showed more deficit than resource.Bhattarai’s moral integrity, especially when it comes to probity in public life, and intellect were commendable. His sense of humor sometimes compensated for lack of charisma. But he was hardly a man of action, something which Girija Prasad Koirala is. Willpower is in abundant supply with Koirala but imagination has cheated him. Sometimes I wish we had the power to combine Bhattarai’s intellect and integrity and Koirala’s willpower, determination and dynamism in one leader.Manmohan Adhikari, too, valued integrity highly and lived accordingly. But he was hardly the man in charge even when he was party president and prime minister—he was just the figurehead of a mammoth party organization that inherited him and not the other way round. Sher Bahadur Deuba had abundant luck but nothing else to become a leader.Where does PM Dahal fit? And where will he take us?Give him a full score for audacity—not for his judgment though— in leading the people’s war. Equal score for his ability to show flexibility and to reach out for compromise when he deems it necessary. There is another quality which strikes a chord with people: His frankness. Sometimes he is more candid than he should have been in public.But lately Prachanda is displaying some serious deficits: He is self-centered and manipulative.Senior party leaders say in private that he knows how best to defend his personal interests and keeps the party divided to serve them. Efforts to establish Narayankaji Shrestha as de-facto number two in the Maoist hierarchy hasn’t gone down well in the party, certainly not with Babauram Bhattarai.Bhattarai feels doubly cheated. When Bhattarai told Dahal that he had no interest in joining the cabinet just as a senior minister the latter promised to make him sole deputy prime minister. It was only during the oath-taking ceremony that Bhattarai learnt the post of deputy prime minister had gone to Bam Dev Gautam. Ever since there has been no warmth between the two. Not just Bhattarai, but many other senior Maoist leaders feel disillusioned with Dahal, primarily because of his “double-dealing” and manipulations.Centralization of party resources provides another useful window into the life and character of the prime minister. Prachanda’s son-in-law is the one who handles party funds. No one except the father- and son-in-law know the details of the party’s income and expenses. And who are his aides at Baluwatar? Most are relatives. All this points to a serious question about integrity. We all know that Dahal is not an intellectual, but if he also lacks integrity what kind of leadership does he have to offer? At best, he will just try to patch things up here and there and try to hang on, and at worst he will be ready to do unimaginable things. Remember, absence of intellect and integrity can be a dreadful mix.Prachanda’s public track record is equally uninspiring. He does not take seriously the promises he makes in public and he may commit himself to something or anything, but not mean it. He has gaffed, bungled and lied so many times the public no longer trusts him. If there is one thing that a leader needs to stir a country out of trouble it is the TRUST of the people.During the Great Depression when there was a run on banks in the United States, threatening a complete meltdown of the financial system, President Franklin D Roosevelt appeared in public, laughed off the crisis and declared that the banks had enough deposits for withdrawal. The next day the bank run eased because the American people trusted Roosevelt.So far, Dahal’s colleagues and people in general have not pointed a finger at him because his failures have not become too obvious. Once they become obvious, there will be no one to share the blame — victory has a hundred fathers but defeat is an orphan. Hope Dahal understands that and mends his ways before it’s too late.

Courtesy: AMEET DHAKAL

Will Maoists agree to UML ‘face saver’?

By Anand Gurung
As the ruling Unified CPN (Maoist) appears intent on booting its former nemesis Chief of Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal and has intensified parleys with key coalition partner CPN-UML and main opposition Nepali Congress to convince them for his sacking, the nation has plunged into a deep political crisis which can have adverse effect on the army integration, statute drafting and, as a result, the entire peace process.
Firstly, it is becoming very difficult for the Maoists to garner national consensus in their favour on the spat between the government and the army chief. To remove CoAS Katawal it must take political parties - mainly Nepali Congress - into confidence. However, that seems a far cry as the second largest party in the CA has already made it clear that it will not tolerate any interference in the national army. As a proof of its commitment on the matter, NC (with the support of 16 fringe parties in the CA) has continued to obstruct the Legislature-Parliament sessions since the controversy surfaced following government's decision to seek clarification from the Army chief, warning further that it will keep adjourning the House until the government backs out from its plan.
UML, however, has opted more of a "middle path" as the party's leadership remains clearly divided over the Maoists plan to sack the Army chief. Stressing the need to resolve the Govt-Army row on the basis of national consensus, the third largest party in the CA has offered a way out to resolve the issue which seems sort of a face-saver for both the Maoists and themselves. As per it, UML wants both CoAS Katawal and the Maoist choice to replace him, Lt General Kul Bahadur Khadka, to resign and make way for General Chhatra Man Singh Gurung, who is third-in-line in the army chain-of-command, to become the new CoAS. In return, UML also wants to see Maoist Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa resign from his post, to make it appear that the government has taken similar action against its own minister for letting the row go out of hand.
The UML formula may be acceptable to all the parties to the controversy. Not only the Maoist-led government will appear to have taken action against its disobedient army chief, but will also for the first time not look to have backed out from a many major decision it has taken in the past, like for instance, the Pashupatinath incident has shown where it had to withdraw its decision to replace the Indian head priest with a Nepali one.
Similarly, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will also be able to show his party cadres that they have taken action against the chief of their former rivals for refusing to obey government orders and especially for being against the former Maoist combatants entry into the Nepal Army by calling them "politically indoctrinated".
On the other hand, the plan could be agreeable to NC too because it would not be in the interest to appear as obstructing the House sessions on every government move and delay the constitution writing process when removal of General Khadka, who it views as the Maoist man in the army, along with Army chief Katawal might assure it for that the Maoist aim of capturing state power by taking Nepal Army under its control has been quashed for the time being.
But most of all, the "face-saving" formula will also work for the UML as it will make the party appear cooperative towards the government of which it is an important constituent while at the same time bolster its role, like some analysts puts it, as the moderate centrist "problem-solver", an image it was to create for itself when the mantle of the mainstream communist party has already been snatched from it by the Maoists.
However, observers see little possibility of Maoist agreeing to the UML proposal, as it offers only a "face-saver" to it amidst intense national and international (read Indian) pressure to back away from its plan, but no real advantage as far as its long term political ambitions is concerned.
General Khadka had, according to some reports, been lobbying hard with the Maoist leadership since many months to become the new Army chief because, though he was second-in-line in the army chain-of-command, he was retiring before CoAS Katawal completed his full tenure of three years. To appear as a favourable candidate for the post, he had agreed to ease the integration of all 19,000 Maoist combatants in the Army, give plum post of brigadier to Maoist deputy commanders including Major General for PLA commander Nanda Kishor Pun, stop new recruitments in the Army for a while and other considerations as per the liking of the Maoist leadership.
But according to retired Army General Pradip Pratap Bam Malla, the plan of sacking the Army chief will only add more fuel to fire and may even prove disastrous for the country in the long run.
When asked if by "disastrous" he meant that the army will stage a coup, he says there's little possibility of that as Nepal Army will require both foreign backing and sizable public support before it takes such a serious step.
"As there are no chances of Nepal Army getting either of those, the coup talks are baseless," Malla says. "But what I am saying is that, the move of removing the Army chief will humiliate the national army so much that it will have multiplier negative effect on the long term security interest of the country."
He says that an amicable solution to the problem should be found.
"For the Army chief being issued a clarification letter is in itself some degree of punishment and I believe the government should stop at that," Malla says. "In normal times, the government could have sacked the Army chief easily with the least protest, but these are not normal times and trampling with the army in these times is surely not advisable."

Courtesy: nepalnews.com, April 27, 2009.

UML proposes to dismiss Defence Minister Thapa, CoAS Katwal, Lt. Gen Khadka

KATHMANDU, April 27 - The CPN-UML on Monday put forth a proposal to the Unified CPN (Maoist) leadership to dismiss Chief of the Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal, Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, and Lieutenant General Kul Bahadur Khadka on Monday.
In the meeting of the top guns of the two major ruling parties held at the Prime Minister's official residence at Baluwatar today morning, the UML said that all three controversial figures should be relieved from their duties to solve the present political crisis.
Saying Minister Thapa could not prove himself politically and administratively competent to handle the Defence Ministry, the major ally of the Maoist-led coalition UML asked the Maoist leadership to pull him out from the Cabinet.
Moreover, the UML also proposed to appoint Lt Gen Chhatra Man Gurung, third-in-line in the Nepal Army, the CoAS to resolve the controversy regarding the NA command.
“It will be a viable option to bid farewell to the two top controversial figures --CoAS Katawal and Lt. Gen. Khadka-- in the army and look for a third person to lead instead,” said the UML source.
However, the Maoist leadership refused the UML proposal and said that it is firm on taking action against CoAS Katawal.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal asked the UML to back him to oust CoAS Katawal.
Only yesterday, the UML Standing Committee had decided not to support the Maoist plan to replace the Army Chief by the second-in-command (Lt. Gen Khadka), but said the party would facilitate other options, also acceptable to the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC).