UCPN (Maoist) will not disclose donation figures: Pun
KATHMANDU, FEB 02 -
Finance Minister Barsaman Pun said on Friday his party would not make public the amount of donation collected from the business community, as doing so ‘could encourage other groups to seek money from the private sector’.
The minister’s statement has come at a time when the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has demanded a legal mechanism to ensure transparency in donations the business community provides to the political parties and other groups.
The UCPN (Maoist) is facing accusations of forced donation drive ahead of the party’s general convention scheduled begin Saturday. Entrepreneurs have complained that although the party sought voluntary donation in writing, the party leaders demanded huge amounts in telephone conversations.
Pun, who is also the party’s central committee member, however, denied that his party was involved in ‘extortion’. “There might be some elements trying to fish in muddy water as our party prepares for general convention,” he said.
Terming the accusations a ‘publicity stunt’, Pun said his party was ready to hear and solve any complaints of extortions. He claimed a majority of the funding required for the convention would be fulfilled by membership renewal fees collected from 350,000 strong cadres and 3,500 general convention representatives who will have to pay Rs 5,000 each to take part in the general convention. “We are also taking donations from our well-wishers and the business community as per their wish,” he said.
Talking about the state of economy, he said despite the lack of full budget, the economic indicators are good in relative term. On low capital expenditure this fiscal, he said it was due to disappointing expenditure in the first three months, but the situation ‘has now started to improve’.
According to the Finance Ministry, capital expenditure stood at just Rs 7.04 billion in the first half of the current fiscal, a decline of 26.36 percent compared to figure during the same period a year ago. “Due to the one-third budgetary provision, the government was forced to call project tenders in a fragmented way, affecting the capital expenditure,” he said.
He also talked about the difficulty in managing counterpart funds in donor-funded projects, although the government has committed that such problems would not arise. “The problems have arisen in education and health sectors which have now been solved,” he said.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
