Leadership And Democracy In Nepal

Suresh Sharma (Poudyal)

Nepal's economic development and democracy continue to be in the doldrums even after the country having entered a democratic era in 1990. During the partyless Panchayat regime, the leaders of the political parties were mostly engaged in clandestine meetings and delivering speeches from their hideouts to prevent themselves from being caught and put behind bars by the royal administration and its henchmen. During this period, the political parties were prohibited from mass gathering and carrying out political activities. People hardly dared speak against the royal regime, lest they faced prosecution or even punished without a chance for a bail or release on parole.

Leadership qualities

After the country was liberated from the king's authoritarian rule in 1990, the party leaders came out of their hideouts and celebrated the glorious victory of the people. Majority of the not-so-literate citizens of the country were perplexed by the new developments taking place around them. They didn't really understand what democracy meant. They were just carried away by the well-crafted speeches of the leaders, and majority of them just remained mute spectators.

Slowly, they started voicing their concerns and understanding the changes taking place. The whole country was ushered into a new era of multi-party politics, guiding Nepal's development into the 21st century. On the positive side, during the 14 years of post 1990 Nepal, the number of political parties, non-government organisations, banking and the private sector and businesses mushroomed. The development of the media and telecommunication sector flourished, foreign employment and remittances increased sharply. However, on the flip side, the country's government changed frequently. The Maoist insurgency dominated the country's politics and media headlines for more than a decade. King Gyanendra's direct rule for more than a year caught the attention of the whole world, and the country's image plummeted in the eyes of international observers. Finally, after the mega event - Jana Andolan II in April 2006, King Gyanendra bowed down to the people.The Maoists joined mainstream politics after a lot of deliberations and negotiations with the seven major political parties. Presently, the Maoists have already entered the coalition government with the mandate to hold a free and fair Constituent Assembly Election.

So far, 14 months have already passed since Jana Andolan II, and the country is still brimming with instability, insecurity, lack of political trust, human rights violations, newly emerged ethnic tensions and political uncertainty. There may be many underlying factors or causes leading to this present situation. However, the principal reason for this tumultuous disorder and unrest over the years is a sheer lack of effective political leadership. Now, let us examine what are the attributes of true leadership and why our leaders have failed so far.If we are to accept the basic premise that leadership is the art of influencing, cajoling and directing people to accomplish a given mission or goal, then we must agree that there is more to leadership than merely barking out orders from a personal power base. Wise leadership involves speaking, listening and learning with farsighted vision, planning and action. According to a research study in 1999 by Warren Bennis, professor and founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California, all leaders share four significant personality traits: vision, passion, integrity and courage.

Bennis also found that leaders share five common competencies ? technical competence, interpersonal skills, conceptual skills, judgement and character. Out of these, Bennis claims that character is the vital element that determines a leader's effectiveness, adding that "leaders rarely fail because of technical incompetence" but more so for lack of character. However, apart from these aforementioned qualities, there are three other hidden qualities of great leaders. These hidden qualities are not easily discernible, but are found in the best of leaders. These qualities are empathy, personal responsibility and an openness to discovering the truth. How many of these personality traits, competencies and qualities do our Nepalese political leaders possess or apply them in their day to day lives and in making decisions of public interest? This is a question which haunts every conscious citizen even more strongly in the present transitional phase. Empathy - the ability to sense and respond to the feelings of others - sets leaders apart from their peers. The leaders use it to form strong relationships, pick up early warning signs and recognise opportunities to influence. The caring aspect of empathy is what inspires people to stay with a leader, even when times are challenging. Empathy breeds loyalty.

If the leaders of the Maoist-affiliated Madhesi Mukti Morcha and Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) had displayed even the slightest common sense and empathy, the Gaur carnage of 21 March, which resulted in the ghastly killings of 27 people could have easily been averted. The loss of so many lives is a purely man-made disaster, resulting from hatred and egotism. It was a blunder on the part of the leadership of both the groups to organise their mass meetings in the same place, at the same time and try to foil each other's stage. With such mean, apathetic and narrow-minded attitude of the leaders, how can one expect them to imbibe morality and ethics? Personal responsibility is the courage and moral obligation to accept responsibility of one's actions ? good or bad. Great leaders do not wait for things to improve, but act to improve things. Earlier, leaders of the eight parties had made public to hold the polls for the constituent assembly elections by June 2007. It has now been scheduled for November 22. After the Election Commission publicly admitted the impossibility of conducting the elections in June, all the political parties started their idiosyncratic blaming game on each other for the setback. None of them took the responsibility for the delay. What does this mean? Our leaders are simply not serious about political commitments and responsibility to the people. They clearly lack foresight, and make decisions on a whim without proper planning and calculations. They also lack planning and team work. Their sluggishness and attitude of taking things for granted have cost the dreams and aspirations of the common citizens very dearly.

Lastly, great leaders are always keen in discovering the truth. They encourage debate and seek truth from it. On the contrary, our leaders seem apathetic in revealing the truth. National and international human rights groups have recently pointed out that more than 900 people are still missing and their whereabouts uncertain. Majority of these disappearances were perpetrated by the security forces during the conflict and the remaining by the Maoists and other armed groups. This week at a press briefing, the outgoing OHCHR representative in Nepal Lena Sundh demanded an end to the culture of impunity in Nepal and punishment to the perpetrators. From the lackadaisical approach of the leaders sharing power in the present government, it is apparent that they are still reluctant to dig out the truth. What a pity for the family of the victims.

Peace and security

Democracy cannot flourish without peace and security. Peace and security will be a far cry if there is no dignity and respect for individual human rights and their lives. It is now high time that our leaders wake up from their dreams and start working responsibly as true leaders, and not as deceivers, to fulfill the aspirations of their denizens. They should now rise above petty politics and deeply think for the greater good of the nation.

Source: The Rising Nepal, June 30, 2007