By Ram Khatry
The 99th richest Australian who led a successful rescue and relief mission following the devastating Nepal earthquake has lately been accused of polarising his fellow comrades through what they claim to be his ‘unconstitutional and unilateral’ decision-making tendency.
The decision in question relates to the appointment of co-opted members of the International Coordination Committee (ICC) of the Non Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), of which the self-made tycoon is a second-term president. The CEO of Melbourne Institute of Technology (MIT), however, denies he has done anything wrong in making those nominations. The constitution of the organisation does allow presidential judgement in order to ensure required ‘skills set’ for the executive committee, he reminds his fellow NRNs.
In a telephonic conversation with southasia.com.au, NRNA’s general secretary Dr. Badri KC said he completely disagreed with how Mr Ghale proceeded to nominate the co-opted members last weekend. The Moscow-based businessman said no one was above the due process and constitution of the organisation. There was a lot of ‘noise’ and dissent among NRNA office-bearers during Sunday’s global teleconference, he pointed out. It is understood Mr KC wrote a note of dissent because he did not agree with the way Mr Ghale conducted the meeting.
Asked by southasia.com.au to comment on the recent surge in social media posts by various forerunners of the Nepalese diaspora (about his decision to appoint certain people of his choice) including the reported ‘note of dissent’ by his own general secretary, Mr Ghale pointed out that he was ‘bound by NRNA Code of Conduct not to publicise information that are unauthorised and inappropriate’.
However, as for the rumour of a rising dissent within the 70-nation strong global body, he expressed concern that his colleagues divulged unauthorised information to the public. “I am deeply concerned and disappointed that such responsible people are spreading unfounded and malicious information to damage the reputation of our organisation that we all worked so hard for last 12 years,” the Melbourne-based BRW rich lister said.
Qatar-based businessman T.B. Karki is another NRN who posted several Facebook posts that alluded to the issue. Hours after the ICC teleconference last Sunday, he published a status to say the nomination of one’s ‘own people’ could not be ‘a message of unity’ and went on to warn that such decisions would never benefit social organisations like the NRNA.
In particular, expatriate Nepalese have vehemently opposed the nominations of people who fought the NRNA elections held last October in Kathmandu, and were defeated.
In an emailed response to southasia.com.au‘s query, the founder of educational empire MIT Group explained that the regional coordinators of NRNA provide names of the prospective co-opted members in consultation with the relevant NCC (country) presidents. The ICC president then reads out those 15 names including 5 compulsory females to the participants of the ICC meeting. However, the president can use his discretion to narrow down the list whenever there are more names than required. And this, he said, is made ‘based on each proposed member’s contribution to NRNA either locally or at ICC level, experience and essential skills set required to achieve NRNA-ICC’s goals and objectives including its declaration’.
“However, on the issue of last week’s meeting, I request you to wait until it is available from the authorised channel or personnel that is the spokesperson,” Mr Ghale urged.
“At a time when our country needs the global body the most because of the ongoing Indian blockade, the NRNA leadership must rise above dissent and focus more on providing critical medical supplies to the people of Nepal,” says Bharat Raj Paudel, a Brisbane-based media expert and PhD fellow at Queensland University of Technology.
He stressed on the need of taking immediate steps to bring the disgruntled members to the negotiating table and work under a unified agenda which is for the good of Nepal.
When the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the mountainous nation last April, the NRNA with members in the four corners of he globe showed extraordinary commitment to the rehabilitation of their stricken brothers and sisters back home. Moved immensely by the selfless gesture to their motherland, the Government of Nepal appointed Shesh Ghale as a special goodwill ambassador in order to garner international support for the earthquake reconstruction activities.
There is another side to the recent NRNA crisis.
The highly appreciated role that NRNA played during the Nepal earthquake created a high expectation in the Nepalese people – both at home and globally. So, as the tiny nation currently faces another disaster, a man-made disaster produced by a neighbour in the south, people now count on NRNA to create international pressure against the blockade. They believe that because NRNA is present in so many countries, a concerted effort could create strong pressure on the Indian government to follow international transit laws.
The polarisation at the leadership level is likely jeopardise that opportunity, members of the diaspora fear.
ICC member Keshab Prasad Sapkota, on the other hand, chose to drive the nail home by throwing a jocular question. Mr Ghale had apparently posed a question (probably over his frustration over the bureaucratic red-tape that exists in Nepal) to the Nepalese government during the earthquake rescue and rehabilitation process, “Are we in North Korea or in a democratic nation?” Now, the Sydney-based businessman has the same question for him, “Is NRNA North Korea or a democratic organisation?”.
Stressing that the organisation cannot be run with the muscle power of money, Mr Sapkota said, “I totally disagree with his viewpoint that we cannot agree with everyone and therefore, decisions should be forced in order to move on,” Mr Sapkota said. He said money-centric attitude must be shunned.
source southasia,com,au
0 comments :
Post a Comment