Meaning loaded expressions from NDF partners indeed!

Nepal as a nation-state has reasons to be more than happy for this round of the gala meeting of the Nepal Development Forum-2002 held in Kathmandu and Pokhara respectively, it could extract an astronomical amount estimated at about US$500 million annually from Nepal's development partners. The amount, we have been told, would be used for implementing the poverty reduction plan initiated by the Nepalese government. However, the money thus received by this donor-driven country is not without strings attached. The strings indeed are not otherwise but seek some sort of guarantee from the receiving end. Failing to do so could mean in the words of World Bank's South Asia Vice President that the entire volume of assistance might come to an abrupt halt. Taking into account our governments' past experiences what could be guessed in advance is that we might invite the wrath of the donor community time permitting.

The development partners though have agreed to pour in the money into this Himalayan Kingdom but concurrently have made it conditional that should Nepal fail to exhibit continued commitment, effective implementation and achieving results on the ground, the development partners would be forced to rethink on their aid policy for Nepal.

Not very surprisingly, the international donors who converged in Kathmandu this time clearly hinted the recipient country that what Nepal badly lacked was the effective implementation and the utilization of the resources received from its development partners and hence have offered three separate suggestions which repeatedly stresses upon "implementation on the ground" and only "implementation on the ground". This clearly means that the development partners concluded that the implementation part was practically nil or say dismal in this country. Its corollary is that Nepal needed good and dedicated implementators who could implement the policies, more so the financial ones, in an effective manner which in turn could yield the required results. Thus it should not come as a surprise when one is told that Nepal's chief negotiator Dr. Ram Saran Mahat had to admit bluntly at the NDF 2002 meeting here and there that "the demand for effective implementation is very genuine and that if we couldn't implement what we promise then we have no moral right to ask for additional external assistance". Analyzing Dr. Mahat's above mentioned admission one arrives at two conclusions: the first being that Dr. Mahat now admits that the implementation part in Nepal remained very sad and that even if we could not implement as per the promises made to the NDF men this round of meeting yet we could ask for the "regular support" from the international donors if not an "additional one". It is here that Dr. Mahat cleverly hints the donor community that even if we fail to implement the agreed upon policies the latter has to continue the regular support to this country.

The final suggestion the NDF partners have made is related to their strong desire to see a set of dedicated and hardworking leaders who could act like a catalytic agent for bringing about a dramatic change in the country. The NDF men believe that unless new sets of change-leaders emerge in this country, no progress could be achieved by this nation. IN a sense, the NDF men have indirectly hinted that the men belonging to the finance ministry who remained instrumental in finalizing the deal this round of NDF meeting in Kathmandu and Pokhara could well act like leaders of change. This means that the World Bank in particular and the other donors in general now have shifted their "love and sympathy" from Mahesh Acharya to the incumbent Finance Minister Dr. Mahat. If it is so then it is certainly a plus point for Dr. Mahat who bagged success in convincing the NDF men to extend some additional support to this country in order to reduce poverty. By the same token, the NDF men apparently also hinted that Dr. Mahat and his team at the finance ministry could act like the change-leaders who could bring about an attitudinal change in the village, districts and finally in the nation. However, the fact is that the NDF men will feel cheated if Girija Prasad Koirala succeeds in his clandestine designs in bringing about a collapse of the incumbent regime which would mean that the total set of the present change-leaders in the finance ministry would be replaced by yet another set and this process perhaps would go on and on.

It would be nice if the men handling the system more so the congress camp read the following paragraphs which the WB South Asia Vice President has said: "we also disengage, consciously and explicitly, when such leaders cease to exist".

What this "disengagement" would mean to this beggar and donor-driven country is any body's guess. The message is loud and clear.

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