Bhutan Tourism

15 March, 2008 - National Assembly candidates have been promising their local constituencies (in print, television and at public meetings) numerous schools, farm roads, BHUs, bridges and so forth.

But, if you go by the latest draft constitution and the draft 10th plan, it will be locally elected bodies, the Dzongkhag Tshogdu (DT) and Gewog Tshogde (GT), which will prioritise and implement these projects, not the parliamentarian from a constituency.

“What many people don’t know is that, under the constitution and the 10th plan, the GT, DT and central government, all have their own areas of responsibility and funds so that there is effective decentralistion,” said an official of the GNH commission (formerly planning commission).

“The role of NA members will largely be legislating in the Assembly with their main focus on national affairs and passing of bills,” said a member of the Constitution drafting committee.

According to article 22 of the draft constitution, the GTs and DTs will have a fixed supply of funds. “The government will have to give equal and adequate annual funds to local governments, on the basis of a formula that takes into consideration population, food security and environment,” said a commission official. This kind of allocation was not there in the past.

GTs and DTs will be entirely apolitical bodies with no politically affiliated members allowed to contest in the elections, according to the Local Governments’ Act of Bhutan, 2007.

As in the Ninth Plan, the gewog and dzongkhag level plans have come from the GTs and DTs to the GNH commission to be incorporated in the overall plan. But, on close examination by Kuensel, it was found that the promises made by many candidates exceeded what the DT and GT bodies had asked for.

GNH commission officials also point out that the sheer scope of promises, when put together, exceeded the tenth plan. “I don’t know why candidates are going around promising roads, bridges, electricity, hospitals, etc., in huge quantities when the entire 10th plan does not have adequate funds for many of them,” said a senior GNH commission official.

The draft 10th plan has an outlay of Nu 141.69 billion, of which internal resources are enough to only finance around Nu 65.6 billion. For capital investments, external resources of around Nu 66.4 billion are expected to be mobilized through grant and loans, leaving a resource gap of Nu 13.2 billion.

“There’s no way that we can afford to build so many bridges and feeder roads even with the full budget of the tenth plan and remaining 9th plan combined,” said a department of roads official..

An official of the ministry of education said, “We don’t have the implementation capacity to have so many schools, as promised by many candidates.” A senior officer from the Health Infrastructure Development Project said, “Even our current BHUs in villages are in bad shape with some having no proper medical staff and I don’t see how we can fulfill so many promises in just five years.”

“PDP’s commitments are based on the 10th plan and we’re confident that we can meet them because we’ve planned them on realistic grounds,” said PDP spokesperson, Tashi Tshering. PDP’s Haa candidate Tshering Tobgay said, “We’ll be working indirectly with the DT and GT of our respective constituencies to make sure that their needs and requirements are met and we’ll do more with less by focussing on efficiency.”

DPT spokesperson Palden Tshering said that the role of DPT candidates, in the context of the DTs and GTs, will be to identify and prioritize the most crucial issues first for local development. “We’ll create this kind of relationship that politicians and the local government can implement together in the interest of the state,” he said, adding that DPT plans were also in keeping with the tenth plan.

A GNH commission official explained that, after the new government is elected, the draft 10th plan would be presented to parliament, along with the annual budget (for the first year of the plan). “It’s only for the annual budget that voting will take place on the assembly floor,” said the official. “This is where elected candidates will play a role.”

Asked whether the ruling party could drastically change the constitution or 10th plan to suit its own needs, a senior member of the drafting committee said, “They can alter certain sections but key factors, like decentralized governance, people’s participation, empowerment and rights, are protected under various acts of the constitution.”

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