Tshering Tobgay

Seedy grant

April 20, 2009Legislature21 Comments

Our newspapers reported that the cabinet has approved the constituency development grant last week (read Bhutan Observer). I join the NC Chairman in expressing complete shock at the cabinet’s decision. Here are a few reasons, most of which I’ve shared with BBS, why we should be seriously concerned if the CDG has really been approved:1. It is unconstitutional. Our Constitution declares that “there shall be separation of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and no encroachment of each other’s powers is permissible.” Allowing MPs to implement the CDG amounts to the legislature encroaching on the executive.2. It undermines…

To Gakiling and beyond

April 19, 2009Villages

I begin another visit to my constituency today. In particular, I’ll visit Gakiling. And from there head to Dumtoe and Dorokha in Samtse. Most families from Samar gewog, including mine, make this journey every year, moving their cattle from the high mountains in Haa to the lowlands in Samtse each winter. This difficult journey has been undertaken by many, many generations at almost the same time each year, along exactly the same path, and to the same pastures. Our people continue this tradition. We have to: we are semi-nomadic people.So, naturally, I'm excited.I won’t be able to access the…

Meeting gups

April 18, 2009Local Government

Many of our readers expressed concerns about the opposition being left out of the 5th annual meeting of the Dzongkhag Tshogdu and Gewog Tshogde Chairpersons that ended today. Some were obviously outraged. And a few suggested that the opposition organize a separate meeting with the gups. I appreciate your concerns. And your advice. Thank you.We’ve decided that organizing a separate meeting with the gups would not be proper. It would send the wrong message: that the annual meetings are organized only for the government. In fact, gups are apolitical. And they are important. So all relevant agencies should have…

Left out

April 18, 2009Government

The 5th annual meeting of the Dzongkhag Tshogdu and Gewog Tshogde Chairpersons will end today. These meetings are important as, once every year, the gups of all 205 gewogs get together to discuss issues relating to local government. And this year’s meeting is especially important as this is the first such meeting since the introduction of parliamentary democracy.But the opposition party was excluded from this meeting.I’d hoped to meet our local government leaders to solicit their opinions and advice on the opposition party’s work. And to seek their views on the amendments to the Local Government Act that are…

Free media

April 17, 2009Media

On Sunday, March 22, Bhutan Times reported: The most direct evidence of our new democratic freedom this past year is the ease with which the kingdom’s young media professionals can now get hold of government leadership including, even, the Prime Minister himself. Good.On Saturday, April 11, Kuensel reported: The prime minister said that the government respected the media. It had in no way hindered them. “The government lets media do what they’re supposed to be doing. People need to know the truth, both good and bad … We should be honest and we should reveal.” Very good.On Wednesday, April…

Golden youth

April 16, 2009Youth

For more than three decades, His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo traveled to every part and every corner of our country to meet the children of Bhutan. And everywhere our king went, from community schools to Sherbutse, our nation’s “peak of learning”, He commanded: “The future of our country lies in the hands of our youth.”To honour and to celebrate our fourth king’s boundless love for and confidence in our youth, the Youth Development Fund started the Golden Youth Award a few years ago. This annual award essentially recognizes children who excel at school – in both, the classroom…

Nazhoen Pelri, Phuntsholing

April 15, 2009Civil society, Monarchy

Yesterday I had the good fortune of attending the opening ceremony of Nazhoen Pelri, YDF’s youth hostel in Phuntsholing. The hostel was inaugurated by the YDF President, Her Majesty Ashi Tshering Pem Wangchuck. I am pleased the post Her Majesty’s address to YDF supporters, the Phuntsholing community and the youth of Bhutan.Almost four years have passed since the Youth Development Fund initiated our plan of making a hostel in Phuntsholing, a hostel which will be useful for providing the youth with low cost housing. Today, our plans have finally become a reality and we now have Nazhoen Pelri Youth…

Our Punakha party

April 13, 2009Political parties

Yesterday, our secretary general Sonam Jatso and I visited Punakha. The PDP Dzongkhag office there had invited us to attend their general meeting. About 100 party members including members, workers and supporters had gathered to discuss strategies to further strengthen our dzongkhag office.I was delighted. We lost both the Punakha constituencies last year. And our president, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, who hails from Punakha, resigned to take moral responsibility for the poor election results. Yet, not a single party worker or supporter has left the party. Instead, they are closer and more focused than ever. And they are determined to…

JSW mountain range

April 12, 2009Nature

This morning, at about 8:00 AM, while traveling to Punakha, Dochula honored me with the visual treat that is the Jigme Singye Wangchuck Mountain Range. Our northern range looked simply grand. My photo, which I had snapped very quickly, shows only part of the range, and does absolutely no justice to the real majesty of the Jigme Singye Wangchuck Mountain Range. But I’ve already asked a friend to loan me a real picture of our mountains. I’ll post that soon.

PDP Secretary General

April 12, 2009Political parties

Last week, in a quiet ceremony, Lam Kezang Chhoephel, PDP’s secretary general, formally handed over the party’s files to the incoming secretary general, Sonam Jatso.Lam Kezang joined PDP in July 2007 and served as the party’s first secretary general. He successfully registered PDP as Bhutan’s first political party on 1st September 2007, and was instrumental in establishing and developing PDP’s party offices throughout the country.Lam Kezang leaves the PDP to join a private company. I thank him from the bottom of my heart. And I wish him success.

Good karma

April 9, 2009Economy, People

Coffee, many say, is the most popular beverage on earth after water. Yet good coffee is hard to come by in most places. But it is available in Thimphu, at Karma’s Coffee, located in the Zhamling Building somewhere above Hotel Phuntsho Pelri.Karma’s is owned and run by Karma Tenzin, Bhutan’s first barista, who spent about two years in Australia training to make good coffee. And he made a lot of it: about four to five hundred cups a day!Back home the pace is much slower. He makes only 40 to 50 cups of coffee a day. This, he claims,…

Political Instability Index

April 8, 2009Democracy4 Comments

The Economist Intelligence Unit has predicted that the likelihood of political unrest has increased for most countries since 2007. A total of 95 countries are rated as being at “very high risk” or “high risk”, and Zimbabwe is considered to be the most vulnerable of all the 165 countries surveyed. Only 17 countries, led by Norway, are deemed to have “low risk” of political turmoil. See EIU’s Political Instability Index.With seven of the ten most vulnerable countries coming from Africa, that continent continues to be the most politically instable region in the world.But South Asia doesn’t fare much better.…

Improving public services

April 7, 2009Economy, Government

Many businessmen and women would have been delighted to hear our government’s assurances to start the one-stop service centre during BCCI’s annual general meeting last Friday. And they would have been pleased to know that our government is already acting on these assurances. Because, yesterday, according to BBS, our prime minister met with government secretaries to consider ways of reducing the administrative burden.Our government’s assurances and their immediate follow up came as especially good news to Dragyel Tenzin Dorjee. You see, Dragyel spent a year, running from pillar to post, to get permission to establish the Bhutan Institute of…

Connectivity for ICT businesses

April 6, 2009Economy

In my last entry I celebrated the government’s promise to make Bhutan an attractive destination for ICT businesses. I am truly excited at the prospects of using ICT to strengthen our economy, create much needed jobs and generated revenue, all while safeguarding our brand-image as a country that’s serious about gross national happiness.But yesterday I was reminded that our government will need to do a lot of work if ICT is to become a viable business in Bhutan. This is especially so if we want to attract foreign investment to spearhead the development of ICT businesses.What happened yesterday? I…

Attending to BCCI

April 4, 2009Economy

The Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has just concluded its 24th Annual General Meeting. The gathering attracted some much needed attention for the private sector in general and the BCCI in particular.The minister of economic affairs addressed the AGM during its opening ceremony on Thursday, and encouraged the private sector to come up with new business ideas.On Friday, our prime minister also attended the meeting. And he spoke at length – for more than two hours, some say – to the business community about what the private sector can expect from our government. He reiterated our government’s promise…