UNDP Aid to Nepal: After SC, Now Parliament Says ‘No’

It seems like the Himalayan Nation is keen on establishing itself as a self-sufficient entity!

In another interesting move, Nepal’s Federal Parliament turned down the UNDP’s USD 5.9 million worth ‘Parliamentary Support Project’

The five-year project was signed between Manohar Bhattarai from the Parliament Secretariat and Renaud Meyer representative of UNDP on April 23, 2018.

UNDP has been providing logistic support and capacity enhancement since 2008 through this project, says a Parliament Secretariat official.

This move comes as a measure to protect Nepal laws that do not favor foreign aid in national business.

In a meeting, House of Representatives Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara told the Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli that foreign aid was not a Parliament issue, rather a government-related subject.

“The government should deal with issues related to foreign aid.

It does not fall under our jurisdiction,” says Mahara.

In the course of their meeting, Mahara advised that the project amount be diverted to the construction of a permanent Parliament building instead of investing on logistic support for lawmakers and secretariats of the National Assembly along with seven provincial assemblies and the Parliament.

The main aim of this project is to support the formulation of practices and procedures within the Federal Parliament and Nepal’s provincial assemblies, which reflect international best practices in terms of transparency, inclusivity, accountability and effectiveness.

“By working to establish a more accountable, transparent, inclusive and effective parliamentary system, it is possible to address a critical aspect of the domestic systems that are required to ensure full development of Nepal,” reads the agreement.

As a secondary benefit, this project will also build close relationships between the constitutionally-mandated democratic institutions in Nepal, and each province and will assess how the former will be used to aid the UN and other development co-assistants in doing their work on behalf of Nepali citizens.