In his political dossier presented in the eighth general convention of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) in December, the party’s chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal had said the Millennium Challenge Corporation-Nepal Compact will not be endorsed without amendments to some of its provisions.
Some representatives of the convention had called for scrapping it altogether. However, the dossier was endorsed unopposed after Dahal assured that the party will not stand for the MCC-Nepal Compact as long as it contains the provisions that are against the national interest.
It was the time when Dahal was denying a statement made by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba that they had sent a letter to MCC assuring its ratification.
Just on Thursday, during a virtual orientation to leaders and cadres of Karnali Province, Dahal reiterated that the MCC-Nepal Compact will not be endorsed “in its present form.” He said that it cannot be endorsed unless there is an assurance that it doesn’t affect the national interest.
“I urge you to get focused on election activities clearing the rumours about the party’s position on MCC,” he said.
Of late, Deuba’s plan to table the compact in Parliament met with fierce opposition from Dahal. The $500 million American grant was threatening the coalition.
On Sunday, the Post and its sister paper Kantipur reported that Deuba and Dahal had sent a letter on September 29 last year seeking four-five months to build consensus among coalition partners to ratify the compact. Fatema Z Sumar, vice-president of the MCC’s Department of Compact Operations, said in an interview that MCC set a deadline of February 28 for the compact ratification as per the request from Deuba and Dahal as on that day the five-month period concludes. She said that MCC has already sent a response letter to the two leaders.
Then on Sunday itself, two letters—one sent by Deuba and Dahal and the other, MCC’s response—let the cat out of the bag.
Dahal’s subterfuge became known to all.
Observers say the Maoist leader was clearly doing a double-dealing. After weaponising the MCC compact against his then co-chair KP Sharma Oli, Dahal was pandering to his party members, while also appeasing the Americans, according to them.
“He has been trapped,” Rajendra Maharjan, a political commentator, told the Post. “Dahal—and only him—is responsible for the situation he is in now.”
According to Maharjan, the Maoist leader has an uncanny tendency to play such double games and keep even the top party leadership in the dark.
The letter Deuba and Dahal sent jointly to MCC clearly says that they will work to ratify the compact, unlike the Maoist leader’s assertions that the missive was about seeking some time for building consensus and that it did not give assurances of the compact’s ratification.
According to the letter, a copy of which the Post also has obtained, the two leaders requested additional time for the ratification of the MCC-Nepal Compact.
The September 29, 2021 letter that Deuba and Dahal jointly sent to MCC.
Deuba and Dahal have in the letter said that they would discuss the clarifications received from MCC with all the coalition partners to better inform their party members; use government resources to communicate publicly with the Nepali people and state the government’s support for implementing the compact and to dispel misunderstandings and apprehensions about the compact; hold a joint press conference with leaders of the coalition partners to demonstrate government’s positive views on the MCC compact’s ratification and disseminate accurate information about the compact through state media.
The letter nowhere talks about amendments to the MCC provisions.
The joint letter was dispatched on September 29, two months before the Maoist Centre’s general convention. But the 1,631 representatives attending the general convention were kept in the dark.
In the letter, Deuba and Dahal have also expressed their commitment to encourage the MCA-Nepal to complete technical and communication activities that will allow the compact to be implemented more quickly, and jointly request the Speaker of the House of Representatives to plan for tabling of the compact for ratification as soon as possible.
The response letter from MCC to Deuba and Dahal has in clear terms said that it expects the leaders to work in line with their commitments.
“The MCC Board noted your commitment in the September 21 letter to work to ratify the compact in four-five months from the date of the letter. The Board also acknowledged your plan to increase public awareness of the compact and actively combat disinformation about the compact,” reads the letter undersigned by Mahmoud Bah, acting chief executive officer of MCC. “MCC requests that you continue to work with parliamentarians and coalition partners to ratify the compact by the timeline indicated in your letter, no later than February 28, 2022.”
Sumar told the Post on Friday that the five-month time sought by Deuba and Dahal ends on February 28.
A response letter sent by MCC to Deuba and Dahal says: “Without action on your part by February 28, 2022, the MCC Board will discuss next steps at its March 2022 meeting, including whether to continue with the compact.”
“Absent ratification, it is within the MCC Board’s authority to discontinue Nepal’s eligibility to receive the $500 million compact grant from the United States,” reads the letter from MCC. “Such a decision would end MCC’s partnership with Nepal.”
