Recall of Ambassadors Extremely Deleterious
By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
For no rhyme nor reason, the government of Pushpa Kamal Dahal-Prachanda has suddenly recalled 11 ambassadors at one go.
It may be recalled that these envoys were appointed during the coalition government of the Maoists with the Nepali Congress.
If some or all of them are not doing a good job, it would be normal to summon them back. Many have not even completed their term of duty.
However, to order them back just because the supporters and hangers-on of the present government need to be accommodated with juicy, plum and lucrative foreign postings sets a very poor precedent.
The vetting process will, of course, be very short and perfunctory and many uneducated, unqualified and downright unfit candidates will be selected.
To go by past experience, the new ambassadors will have no knowledge of the countries or region where they will be posted, no language skills, and above all no diplomatic finesse.
The host countries will be doubly irritated – first because of the Nepali ambassadors being summoned back in an untimely fashion showing deep disrespect to the receiving country, and secondly, having to accommodate new envoys in short order, especially if they really do not belong to the diplomatic corps.
The Prime Minister Dahal-Prachanda and the Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha have, therefore, done a great disservice to Nepal’s diplomacy.
Nepal’s foreign relations are in the doldrums. Given Nepal’s paramount geo-political position between the two great civilizations of Asia, and the decades of first-hand experience in UN Peace Keeping Operations, it has the unique opportunity to punch above its weight.
But this is not to be, because of the terrible domestic constraints. The main political parties which act more like Mafia families and their leaders, who are actually the dons, are a tremendous hindrance to sustained all-round development.
Unless we get rid of them, forget good governance and progress in the domestic sphere and concomitantly a foreign policy renaissance.
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
[Editor’s note: The writer was a mandarin in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HMG during which time he was a member of the official Nepali entourage during the state visit of HE Dr. Heinrich Luebke, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nepal, and the state visit of HM King Mahendra to the Netherlands and the official visit to West Germany. The birth of the present king of the Netherlands was officially announced during the state banquet in honour of the Nepali king!].
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