Kathmandu, Jan. 23:
Prime Minister KP Sharma
Oli on Wednesday said that his government did not have the luxury to pretend or
make an excuse other than bringing change and development in the lives of
Nepali people.
"Good governance
and economic development are the prime concerns of the government," he
said while speaking at the panel discussion on 'Shaping the future of
democracy' organised during the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Annual Meeting
2019.
Responding to the
doubts of the moderator of the talk, Martin Wolf, Chief Economic Editor of Financial
Times, that the communist government in Nepal was adhering to the tenets of
autocratic regime, PM Oli said that the present government was elected by
people in a free, fair and impartial election which was held by the government
led by another party.
"I have fought for
the democracy for about half a century, so I don't want to be a ruler but a
servant of the people. My government is working to bring changes int eh lives
of people and establish rule of law," he said.
He made it clear that
Nepal has prime ministerial system and the executive powers are in the Cabinet
and the PM.
The premier, who is the
first head of the government from Nepal to be invited at the WEF Annual
Meeting, said that the present government in Nepal had normal relations with the
press like other democracies.
"Press is free and
it has the right to criticise the government. It plays an instrumental role in
developing and strengthening democracy by informing the truth to the
people," he said. "But what we need is a responsible press,
misleading people is not good."
According to him, some
disappointment in the part of people is normal as the expectations were high
and the government is trying to meet them with limited resources.
"Press and people
have developmental aspirations, but it does not happen magically, it takes
time. However, press wants the government to be transparent which is
good," said PM Oli.
He said that the
government in Nepal believed in democracy and constitutional supremacy and there
were no actions or intentions to bring the press under control or restriction.
Press is completely free.
He refuted Publisher of
the New York Times Arthur Gregg Sulzberg's statement that Nepal has introduced
some laws against the sprit of the freedom of the press.
Other discussants in
the talks were Chief Executive Officer of Leadership Now Project Daniella
ballou-Aares, President of Colombia Ivan Duque, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol
Pashinyan.
Duque said that the
three major issues that needed to underpin democracy in Colombia's context were
legality, entrepreneurship and enabling free markets that were socially
responsible, and fairness – primarily closing the gap between rich and poor.
"People should be
taught to fight against their own poverty," he said.
Ballou-Aares said that
the trust in governments is at historic low in many democracies including the
developed countries like the United States and next generation political
leaders are supposed to solve the challenges that people were facing.
Sulzberg said that a
free press was essential to democracy. "Truth, accountability and
understanding are the elements that a society needs in order to
self-govern," he said.
Pashinyan said that
though many oppositions disagree, the press in Armenia was free.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 24 January 2019.
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