Good morning!
Here’s a quick summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from Thursday to kickstart your Friday.
Important
House meeting today amid uncertainties over speaker’s election
A meeting of the House of Representatives has been called for 1 pm on Friday. The Parliament Secretariat has prepared a draft agenda for the meeting, according to which a schedule for the speaker’s election will be announced today. However, it is not sure if the House will follow the plan as the ruling Nepal Communist Party has not made any decision about its candidate for the poll.
The ruling party wants Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe to resign before the process begins so that it can stake its claim in the top position, but Tumbahamphe says she will resign only after being offered the top position. Despite Tumbahamphe’s demand, two chairs of the party have their own picks for the speaker and they dod not want to give the top position to her.
Agreement still elusive in Nepali Congress
Whereas the ruling party is trapped in the debate over selecting a speaker’s candidate, the main opposition Nepali Congress has failed to continue its central working committee meeting. The meeting has been adjourned repeatedly after a faction led by senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel boycotted the meeting demanding that president Sher Bahadur Deuba proposal a calendar for the preparation of the upcoming 14th general convention. There are differences regarding the formation of party departments and sister wings also.
The two sides held a meeting on Thursday also, but it did not produce any results.
Ignored
Kidney transplantation halted for over one week
It has been more than one week since the Human Organ Transplant Centre in Bhaktapur performed a kidney transplant. The process has been halted as a legal officer of the government-run hospital, who would also head the legal committee there, was arrested in connection with a case which police claim is of illegal organ trade. After the chief’s resignation, other members of the committee also put in papers, citing the lack of security.
More than three dozen patients are waiting for the transplantation at the centre currently.
Nepal-China trade talk uncertain
Trade officials of Nepal and China had agreed to hold a regular meeting in the second week of December. As the last month of the year is approaching its end, the meeting has turned further uncertain as China requested Nepal to put off the scheduled meeting whereas the new date is not fixed yet.
Officials at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies inform that the delay in convening the meeting would further prolong the halt of export and import of various goods across the border. For the past three months, Nepal has been unable to export its products, mainly food items, to China after the Chinese officials demanded Chinese labels in them. In turn, Nepal has also stopped importing various goods demanding there are English labels besides Chinese ones.
National Assembly voting centres fixed
The Election Commission on Thursday fixed voting centres for the National Assembly elections to be held on January 23, 2020. There will be one voting centre in each of the seven provinces.
Chiefs and deputies of local governments and provincial lawmakers will cast votes in the elections.
Interesting
Govt launches hoarding board removal drive in capital
After a contempt of court case was filed against the Kathmandu Metropolitan City for its failure to remove hoarding boards as ordered by the Supreme Court a few years ago, the federal government itself has taken initiatives.
Recently, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa convened a meeting among stakeholders including the Kathmandu mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya and it formed four committees to remove the boards, according to the ministry’s spokesperson Kedar Nath Sharma.
