Government – Page 8 – Tshering Tobgay

420 for McKinsey

April 9, 2010Government

Dasho Kinley Dorji to Kuensel, last week, defending the government’s decision to hire McKinsey: I was told that the total amount of money the government spends on consultants in a year is actually more than the amount made public. It’s about what you are getting for what you are paying. We need to define what is too expensive and too cheap. That we hire too many consultants is common knowledge. But that the government spends more for them than we are led believe is not. We should be very concerned if we suspect that the government is misleading the…

Potemkin village?

April 3, 2010Government

Lobxang’s comment on “Mining our business”: Pardon me, this is not related to mining but rather a bizarre topic. Is the Government panicking over the upcoming SAARC Summit in the Country? From what I read in Kuensel, the government is acting like they are having a cold feet already. First, tour operators were asked to vacate hotel rooms of their guests in Thimphu to Punakha and Paro. Now Kuensel reports that there is this strange rule of allowing traffic on alternating days depending on their odd or even license numbers. From my understanding, Bhutan had a very, very long…

Mining our business

March 30, 2010Economy, Government15 Comments

Most of the work at the Punatsangchu hydropower project, estimated to cost more than Nu 36 billion, is being contracted out to large Indian companies. And rightfully so. After all, we still don’t have enough in-house capacity to dig tunnels, erect dams and build powerhouses. But mining? For stone? Now that, I’m sure we can all agree, is something we are good at! Then why is the government allowing Indian companies – L&T, HCC and Gammon – to operate stone quarries for the Punatsangchu hydropower project? And how will L&T, HCC and Gammon operate their mines when the Mines…

Dangerous talk

March 26, 2010Government, Political parties

I smell danger. The prime minister is going all out campaigning for state funding for political parties. In January, the prime minister informed the business community in Phuensholing that both the political parties were facing severe financial difficulties. Referring to the Parliament’s decision not to provide state financing for political parties, the prime minister complained that: We asked for financial support but, there was so much criticism about it being unconstitutional, we withdrew the plea … whatever the government had done so far is in accordance with the Constitution. Shortly afterwards, in Gelephu, the prime minister told the community…

Transparent and accountable?

March 24, 2010Government

The cabinet’s website is actually quite good. It is clean, simple, quick and easy to navigate. And it provides useful information. That is, until they stopped posting the government’s executive orders, cabinet decisions and press releases. So in my previous post, I didn’t mean to complain that the cabinet’s website was bad in any way. What I did mean, however, was to point out that the cabinet had stopped sharing important information on their website. Unless they compromise national security, executive orders and cabinet decisions must be made public. Otherwise how should we know what our government is doing?…

Cabinet’s idle website

March 22, 2010Government15 Comments

I trust that part of the Nu 2.05 billion total solutions project will go towards updating the cabinet’s website – for some odd reason, the cabinet has stopped publishing their executive orders, cabinet decisions, and press releases on their website.

Performance in India

March 22, 2010Government

Dr Prajapati Trivedi recently talked about the performance appraisal system he’s developing in India. Our civil servants, some of who have already signed performance compacts, may find his insights useful. On the importance of implementation: The big difference between the developed country and developing ones is not so much about strategising and planning but implementation. On how performance contracts are prepared: The document is prepared with internal consultations within specific ministries, aligned with government’s annual and five-yearly plans and is vetted and approved by a high power committee on government performance led by the cabinet secretary. On who judges…

Where’s Justice?

March 17, 2010Government

Exactly one month ago, I called on the Royal Civil Service Commission requesting them to reverse their decision to terminate (without retirement benefits) seven education officials from their jobs. The basis of my request was that the RCSC had violated Section 10.2 of the Bhutan Civil Service Rules and Regulations 2006.
Section 10.2 declares that: “Only one penalty shall be imposed in each case.”
I haven’t heard from the RCSC yet. But in the meantime, I’ve learnt about another case, this time involving three officials of the Paro NIE.
They too had been caught “adjusting” their accounts, supposedly to meet workshop expenses. They were penalized. Then they were taken to court. And after the court’s verdict, the RCSC reinstated all three of them in their earlier jobs.
One of them decided to resign. He applied for, and received his retirement benefits.
The other two decided to continue in their jobs. But the RCSC reversed their earlier decision and terminated them both. They didn’t receive their retirement benefits.
Where is Section 10.2? Where is justice?
This is their story:

Public policies

March 17, 2010Economy, Government

Several multinational companies, like Tata, Airtel, Lafarge, and Infinity, have shown interest in investing in Bhutan. And others, like Mountain Hazelnut Venture, have already started doing business in our country. So it’s time the government finalized its foreign direct investment policy. But before finalizing the policy, the government should hold thorough consultations with all stakeholders, particularly the private sector, to ensure that they understand the policy and, more importantly, that they commit to supporting it. And once the FDI policy is finalized, it should be made public. Incidentally, the cabinet approved the Economic Development Policy last year. But it…

CDG – MPs = LG

March 16, 2010Government

The Constituency Development Grant: The National Council has declared it as unconstitutional; The Election Commission of Bhutan has complained that it will compromise the conduct of free and fair elections; citizens have called it a political tool; and the opposition party has denounced it. And still, the controversial CDG prevails. But faced with increasing questions on the legitimacy, intent and usage of the CDG, the prime minister has agreed to consider revoking the grant after two years of his government. The plan, apparently, is to scrap the CDG: Provided that majority of the Gewog Tshogde (GT) submits that it…

Doubtful PM

March 6, 2010Economy, Government

More than decade has already passed since the start of Bhutan’s accession process to the WTO. And many of our current ministers have been involved throughout the process. So I find it strange that, after all these years, one of them, the prime minister, is “still unsure” about joining the WTO. What do you think? Should we join or not? Or are you also “still unsure”? Take our poll that asks, “Should Bhutan join the WTO?” Caricature by Bhutan Observer

Namrita Khandelwal

March 4, 2010Government

Chhophyel, commenting on my previous post: “OL, I am glad that McKinsey’s proposal to liberalize tourist tariff is finally out the window.” McKinsey and Company is charging the government 9.1 million dollars in consulting fees. Add to that travel, living, per diem and other expenses, and the final tab, by some estimates, could exceed 14 million dollars! That’s a lot of money. So it’s amazing that we must feel a sense of relief every time their proposals get shot down. Their first proposal to go was about increasing annual tourist arrivals to 250,000. Then it was tourist tariff liberalization.…

Accountability matters

March 4, 2010Government

The government is yet to issue an official statement rescinding the prime minister’s executive order of 13 November 2009 that liberalized tourist tariffs. Meanwhile, a big majority of the people (57%) who took our poll think that the prime minister should be held accountable for trying to liberalize the tourist tariff. 26% held TCB accountable. And only 17% blamed McKinsey. I agree with the results of our poll. No matter what, if any, consultations led to the big shift in tourism policy, ultimately it was the cabinet, particularly the prime minister, who approved the tariff liberalization. And who signed…

Accountability

February 28, 2010Government8 Comments

The Tourism Council of Bhutan, it seems, has been made the scapegoat for spearheading the Government’s policy to liberalize tourist tariffs. Several of the people who attended last Wednesday’s meeting with the PM blamed TCB for not having consulted the stakeholders sufficiently, and for not having briefed our head of government properly. But was it really mainly TCB’s fault? Or were they, in fact, merely trying their best, as civil servants, to obey the Executive Order, signed by the PM, of their political masters of the day? And was it McKinsey who, in reality, sold the idea, directly to…

Adverse opinions

February 27, 2010Government, Legislature

Should civil servants be allowed to express adverse opinions about the Government? 93% of those that took the the last poll answered with a resounding “Yes!” Now our polls are not scientific, and their results may not necessarily represent popular opinion. Still, and particularly on this issue, legislators, the Government and the RCSC would do well to reflect on the results. The Constitution grants every Bhutanese citizen with the fundamental right to “…freedom of speech, opinion and expression.” And yet, the Civil Service Bill, which the National Assembly passed last year, requires civil servants to “Refrain from publically expressing…