“Elections Must Be Fair And Credible”
Gareth Thomas
 United Kingdom remains a major development partner of Nepal contributing huge amount of money to Nepal in different areas. As Nepal’s oldest friend, Britain has always been generous. Coming as the first representative of foreign country following the formation of interim government with the Maoists in cabinet, GARETH THOMAS, the UK International Development Minister, got first hand information of Nepal. Excerpts of his press meeting:
On Interim Government
The formation of interim government is a step down the path to lasting peace in Nepal. I came to Nepal to meet the interim government to announce 36.5 million pound in support to the peace process. The support includes 13 million pound in aid for the Nepali government-led Peace Trust Fund and at least 23.5 million in debt relief until 2015. The UK will give an immediate boost of 4.6 million pound to the government-led Nepal Peace Trust Fund to help push the peace process forward.
On Peace
This is the first real chance to bring peace to Nepal during the last decade. The agreement is in place, the political process is moving forward and plans have been drawn up to rebuild and bring long term, sustainable development to the country. UK funding, along with contributions from other key donors, is essential to make this happen. We cannot afford to let the chance of peace dissolve and progress to be lost. The cost in human suffering and the impact on the country’s future development would be unacceptable.
UK’s Commitment
The UK is committed to supporting sustainable peace in Nepal, now in the immediate transition to peace, and in the long term, but Nepal’s political leadership must meet the challenge of building of effective, inclusive and accountable state that all of its people can benefit.
Challenges Ahead
There are four key challenges for Nepal to move forward. The first key challenge is to make sure that the elections planned for June are fair and credible. I know the elections are not going to be perfect but they must be acceptable to the people of Nepal. So all the political parties have a responsibility – that goes to eight parties alliance - to explain to the people how elections will work, why they matter and what role the constituent assembly will have. The second challenge is the people of Nepal will need to see a peace dividend soon. They need to see how peace process is making a difference in communities. I think that means politicians in Nepal are going to think about what they can deliver to the people of Nepal in the immediate months following the elections.
The third challenge for Nepal is to make sure that the political process is genuinely inclusive. People wanted to see more women, Dalits, Madhesis and Janjatis involved in political process and they can have role and voice in political process. Making sure that the law and order is delivered and police are able to follow through the rule and justice out of that process is also a challenge. The last key challenge is moving forward beyond the elections. There is a need to make sure that the Constituent Assembly becomes the genuine political forum within Nepal.
On Visit to Sankhuwasabha
I spent yesterday in Sankhuwasabha district looking at forestry project, education project we had supported. It was fascinating to hear how many women have benefited from the forestry and livelihood project we have done. We saw schools buildings but the teacher student ratio is 1 teacher for 40 pupils. Clearly we want quality education in Nepal. I understand some of the challenges. I met with political party leaders, home minister, Speaker and cross section of people.
On Elections
Elections must be fair and credible. It must be free from violence, free from intimidation and that is the message I strongly repeated in discussion I had with parliamentarians of all parties. I see home ministry announcement about the gun. It is also important for the political parties to abide by discipline make sure that the guns are unused and the election is generally fair and credible.
On Maoists
I met political parties including the Maoists in district. Yes, they can be stabilizing force. To do that, they need to (abide by) the code of conduct. All political parties including Maoists have key responsibility now on moving forward to elections.
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