On the recommendation of the government, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has convened a meeting of both the Houses of the Federal Parliament for Mangsir 28. No reason has been provided till now regarding the sitting of the parliament meeting so far. It is coincident or coordination, the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) headquarters in Washington also held a board meeting on the same day which has set the agenda to discuss the MCC Nepal Agreement.
US Secretary of State Donald Lu, who visited Nepal two weeks ago with the MCC as the main agenda, requested that the MCC be approved by Parliament immediately and warned that if not approved, US 500 million in grant aid would be given to other countries under the project.
The full version of the Millennium Challenge Compact
KP Oli wanted to present the MCC in Parliament for discussion while in government. At that time, the attempt to include MCC in the discussion in the parliament rather than pass or fail was not successful due to the CPN-Maoist.
At present, the Oli-led CPN-UML is out of government. Prachanda, who was in favor of not passing the MCC without amendment when the Maoists were in the Oli government yesterday, has now started saying that the MCC compact should not be involved. The Nepali Congress and the Janata Samajwadi Party are in favor of passing the MCC when they were in opposition yesterday or when they are in power today.
The Full version of Signed-PIA-29.09.2019
Brief summary of the conversation with some decisive leaders of the CPN-UML, the largest party in the parliament, and Dr. Beduram Bhushal, General Secretary of the ruling CPN (Socialist) about MCC:
CPN-UML central member and Member of Parliament Goma Devkota
Information has been received about the upcoming Parliament sitting. But the agenda of the meeting has not been mentioned. The MCC agenda is likely to enter both houses of parliament. CPN-UML does not seem to be advocating for MCC. Personally, I am in favor of repealing the MCC. I have already expressed my views on this matter to Chairman KP Oli.
CPN-UML central member and Member of Parliament Khem Lohani
Those who protested against the CPN-UML not even being allowed to hold discussions during its tenure in the government today became supporters of the MCC. This is a sensitive issue. MCC has more conditions than required. Issues such as Nepal’s law, staff management, intellectual property have become complicated. According to the sentiments of the general Nepali people, the CPN-UML can no longer pass the MCC. The Nepali Congress, which signed the project yesterday, and the supporting CPN-Maoist should inform the people about it.
CPN-UML central member and Member of Parliament Komal Oli
CPN-UML cannot be in favor of MCC.
Dr. Beduram Bhushal, General Secretary and Member of Parliament of CPN (Socialist)
I do not think that the CPN (Socialist) will pass the MCC as it is. It would be a coincidence that Nepal and the United States talked about MCC on the same day. KP Oli and Sher Bahadur Deuba may talk about passing MCC from the parliament but we do not.
CPN-UML central member Dr. Rajan Bhattarai
Dr. Rajan Bhattarai, who was KP Sharma Oli’s foreign affairs adviser when he was prime minister, is also the party’s former foreign affairs chief. Although he was not present in the parliament, when he understood the party’s position on foreign affairs, Dr. Bhattarai said that the UML would not allow the parliament to function as long as Madhav Nepal MP and Agni Sapkota was the speaker.
CPN-UML central member and Province 1 CPN-UML president Devraj Ghimire
CPN-UML does not form any opinion on MCC. Since we should not be responsible for this issue now, we do not consider it necessary to discuss and debate.
CPN-UML central member and Bagmati province president Ananda Prasad Pokhrel
I personally believe that MCC should not be passed. In the changed circumstances, the party does not seem to be advocating for the MCC.
(Note: This is the translated version of the Nepalese version article written by Dhruba Prasad Ghimire.)
