English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

The Remake of a StateThe first and decisive criterion for the selection on these posts is partyaffiliations or endorsement than qualification, relevant experience andcompetence. Consequently, whole state structures are under the shadowof political parties and their influential leaders. Competent, highly qualifiedand experienced persons (if they are not willing to be member of politicalparty or not willing to pay for the post) are demoralised, frustrated andgradually moving away from the state building process, which is severeset-back to post-conflict state building.The major causes of the Nepal's armed and social conflicts were related tostructural inequality, exclusion and discrimination (based on caste, class,gender, geography), concentration and abuse of power by ruling elitesand bureaucracy, poverty and unemployment, failure of state governingsystem and politically divided and opposing ideologies. This not only tookthe lives of more than thirteen thousands people and caused damageof infrastructures worth billions of rupees, but also paved the path fortransformation of a feudal, centralised, monarchical unitary state. Thecombination of the political effects of the armed conflict and the People'sMovement of April 2006 brought down the autocracy with the hope ofdeveloping Nepal into a modern, inclusive and federal republican state.However, these transformations are only possible if the state is able toperform its functions and facilitate the change, for which enabling thestate is a major challenge. But all the major progressive political forces,who brought the political change and are supposed to be the custodianof this change, are not abiding by rule of law and basic principles ofgovernance. This is gradually weakening the state.State building efforts have to focus on enabling the state which is severelyweakened from the abuse of political powers. During the war, the solestrategy of the UCPN (Maoist) was to make the state fail so that it wouldhelp them win the armed insurgency. Later, once the armed conflict wasformally ended in November 2006 by signing of the CPA between thegovernment and the UCPN (Maoist), the CPA itself and other subsequentagreements provided a broader framework for state building (makingstate apparatus effective, efficient, responsible, inclusive, transparent,participatory and accountable to people) through the state restructuringprocess. However, the political forces selectively used and interpreted theprovisions of the CPA to fit their party interests and personal ambitionsinstead of sincerely translating the content and spirit of it into action.Hence, state building is becoming a neglected job and a mere politicalslogan to confuse their cadres and get benefit from such confusions andcontradictions.19