INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU: Following the health department decision to scrap medical equipments procurement deal with a private company, reports were rife
about government assigning the task of facilitation of procurement to Nepal Army.
On Thursday, the news of cabinet deciding on entrusting
the military organisation with the procurement through a government-to-government processbecame widespread, which invited a lot of reaction
from several quarters, including leaders of various political parties.
Politicians were quick to comment on the issue, a current centre of
discussion on social media.
Baburam Bhattarai, co-chair of Samajwadi Party Nepal on Thursday eve expressed suspicion over the government
move to hand over the task to Nepal Army
&Guns and bullets probably won&t kill the virus! Why has the government passed the responsibility to the army when civil entities like
commerce and supplies should be facilitating it?& he tweeted
&What stopped the government from procuring equipments through G2G process earlier? Is it because CIAA can&t look into this
matter?&
Similarly, Kamal Thapa, co-chair of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, in agreement with Bhattarai stated that Army shouldn&t be used in
such public procurement deals
&The army shouldn&t agree to such tasks
It only proves that the government functional capacities have decreases and it is incompetent, and I don&t thing we&ve reached that stage
yet,& Thapa said in a tweet.
Not only the leaders in opposition, politicians from the ruling party too expressed dissatisfaction
Ram Kumari Jhakri has questioned if the civil authorities have lost all credibilties while Bishnu Rijal has urged to look for a long term
solution rather than relying on Nepal Army for every other task that doesn&t materialise on the first-go.
This is not the first time that
the army have been ‘passed-on& the responsibility of completing a task which a designated first party failed to fulfill
However, many are of the opinion that this malpractice only questions the state capacity, or the lack of it, to strengthen civil bodies
instead of making army the forever fall-back plan.
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