Nembang for owning deals reached in previous CA
As Subas Nembang assumed his office as the CA chairman for the second time on Wednesday, he said he would expedite the task of constitution writing by owning the works accomplished by the previous CA.
Nembang said he would take initiatives for owning past agreements by making such an arrangement in the CA regulation. A panel of lawmakers is preparing a draft of CA regulation. “I will make utmost efforts to ensure that the arrangement is made through the CA regulation,” Nembang told Republica.
Major parties in CA, including NC, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist), in their election manifestoes had said that they would own the works accomplished by the previous CA. However, their attempt to endorse these agreements in the new CA was obstructed by Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (RPP-N). A month ago, NC, UML and UCPN (Maoist) had reached an understanding to get the past agreements endorsed through the new CA.
Talking to media persons in Singh Durbar on Wednesday, Nembang said, “People have given us the mandate to own the past agreements. I will talk to the political parties regarding the issue.”
Nembang immediately after assuming office held talks with the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML. He said he would soon hold talks with UCPN (Maoist).
Nembang said that CA cannot be held hostage indefinitely in the name of consensus and that disputes if not settled through consensus should be put to vote. “We should learn from our failure in the previous CA. I will not allow the parties to repeat the same mistakes this time around,” he said.
Nembang also informed that the election of CA vice-chairman would be held in a few days. “Consensus would be our priority. But if there is no consensus on issues, they should be put to vote,” he said. He also said hat he would devote his energies so that the new constitution gets written within a year.
Nembang took oath of office and secrecy as the CA chairman amidst a special function at Sheetal Niwas, on Wednesday. He was sworn in by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav. Vice-president Paramananda Jha, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, top leaders of all the major political parties, except UCPN (Maoist), Acting Chief Justice Damodar Sharma, senior government officials, chiefs of the security agencies and heads of diplomatic missions in Kathmandu were present at Nembang´s swearing-in ceremony.
Immediately after being sworn in, Nembang had reached his office at Singh Durbar. Nembang was elected unopposed as CA chairman on Tuesday. Since the CA chairman also acts as speaker of parliament, this would be his third term as a speaker. Nembang had served as the speaker in the reinstated parliament after the historic people´s movement of April, 2006.
Source:(REPUBLICA)
