by Anil Giri in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 21, 2023
The government’s overall performance—from service delivery, budget expenditure, and governance to capital expenditure—has seen a sharp decline, according to a report from the Prime Minister’s Office.
A meeting of government secretaries chaired by Chief Secretary Baikuntha Aryal on Monday took several decisions after the government fell short of the targets it set in its annual policies and programmes and the annual budget.
Experts observing the government’s performance termed the current situation as “catch-22”, saying the government has a difficult escape as it is caught in conflicting rules and limitations.
The evaluation report published by the Prime Minister’s Office on December 5 shows problems in service delivery, with 21 ministries and six other government agencies failing to achieve the targets, particularly in areas like fiscal distribution, infrastructure progress, governance reform, and social sectors.
According to the report, the four-month evaluation covered 27 government entities including 21 ministries, the National Planning Commission, the Office of the Nepal Investment Board, the National Vigilance Centre, the Public Procurement Office and the National Statistics Office. A total of 1,600 government-related activities, 3,421 milestones and 327 result indicators were identified and integrated into the PMO’s evaluation system.
In the four months since the announcement of the annual budget, by mid-October, only 3.88 percent of government-related activities were completed and 8.13 percent of the milestones achieved, according to the report.
After poor performance and poor service delivery by various ministries and government agencies, the meeting of the government secretaries on Monday called for expediting efforts to achieve the milestones.
At the meeting of government secretaries on Monday, chief secretary Aryal was visibly angry by the poor performance of government agencies and ministries, and threatened to take stern action against under-performing officials, according to a secretary who was present at the meeting.
As the government is all set to complete its year in office, the meeting also gave an eight-point instruction to ministries and government agencies to initiate immediate reforms.
By mid-October, or the four months of the current fiscal year, a total of 775 milestones were to be completed, but the achievement rate was just 35.35 percent—51.10 percent milestones are in progress while 13.55 percent are yet to start.
The PMO report, citing statistics provided by the Office of the Auditor General, stated that by mid-October, 16.02 percent of the annual budget was spent by various state agencies. Likewise, of the budget allocated for current expenditure, only 18.69 percent was spent while just 5.9 percent of the capital budget has been spent in the four months.
“None of the indicators is satisfactory and we are far from meeting the halfway target by the end of this fiscal year,” the secretary said, adding, “that’s why the chief secretary was angry and instructed officials to scale up efforts to meet the targets.”
The same figures were presented at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting as Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is set to complete his year in office next week.
As almost all ministries and government agencies are set to fail to meet the halfway target, Chief Secretary Aryal in Monday’s meeting urged secretaries and heads of six government agencies to submit their new baselines by Wednesday to align with the annual target, according to the statement issued by the PMO on Tuesday.
The same report was presented in Wednesday’s cabinet meeting where the performance of one year of Dahal’s government was discussed. Chief secretary Aryal had presented the findings and indicators of the past one year at the meeting.
“The government is completing a year. In this context, we discussed and evaluated its performance. The chief secretary shared some ideas to enhance the government’s performance, evaluated the procedures that caused delays in overall service delivery, and suggested improvements in the decision-making process, among other things,” said Rekha Sharma, Minister for Communication and Information Technology, after the cabinet meeting. “The chief secretary also recommended amending some laws, regulations and other legal frameworks in order to expedite developmental works and improve governance and service delivery.”
Accordingly, the meeting of government secretaries on Monday also decided to send by December 24 a list of laws to be formulated in the upcoming Parliament session, to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
Regarding the signing of treaties and agreements with foreign nations, organisations and entities, the meeting instructed to carefully consider the context, objectives, importance, language and other details before sending them for approval to the entities concerned.
The meeting also instructed all ministries and government agencies to submit a roadmap for service delivery including issuing passports, citizenship, national identity card, driving licence, land ownership certificate, police report, permission for foreign employment, immigration, consular affairs, civil registration, industry, commerce, company registration, and no objection letter for students pursuing higher studies abroad. The roadmap is to be submitted at the Prime Minister’s Office latest by January 5 along with suggestions on ways to improve these services.
In this recent post in X, formerly Twitter, former chairman of the Public Service Commission Umesh Mainali said “Bureaucracy is suffering from ‘Teeter-Totter syndrome (Buck-passing upward, downward and outward)’.’”
And on Wednesday, he posted in Nepali: “When the government fails to perform, it loses legitimacy, and such a government cannot work effectively. This is a Catch-22 situation. Nepal is now falling in a similar trap.”
The meeting of the government secretaries also decided to give maximum priority to the concerns forwarded by provincial governments. In view of the upcoming investment summit, the meeting emphasised the reporting of changes in policy and legal framework. Also, considering the demands from provincial governments for a high number of staff and officials, the meeting decided to formulate criteria for organisational and management surveys to streamline such postings.
Prime Minister Dahal also promised that he will seriously review his one-year term and accordingly prepare a work plan for the next year.
During a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday, the prime minister said, “As I am set to complete my one year in office, I plan to prepare a calendar and hold discussions with all ministries. We will identify problem areas and formulate plans for the next year on the basis of our achievements,” adding, “I will start my office at 10:00 am and will take regular updates.”
“We have to work in a new way and that starts with me. I will regularly come to Singhadurbar and discuss problems. I believe working closely with the bureaucracy enables timely delivery and I hope we will see better results next year.”
https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2023/12/21/poor-report-card-prompts-dahal-to-pledge-urgent-action
