The Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Sharma Oli has advised his cabinet ministers not to reveal Cabinet decisions to the press after the cabinet meeting. The PM in his last meeting confirmed all to follow the thumb rule that only Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota, who is the government spokesperson, would reveal Cabinet decisions to the media.
According to the minister Baskota, ” Cabinet decisions will not be revealed before 48 hours as most of the times Cabinet decisions are not matured and a lot of time speculation and controversies are woven. The government is further planning to take action against any journalist who dare to write in about the cabinet decision in the name of investigative journalism and thus they would be brought by the books.”
In this context, the constitution guarantees the right to information where only classified information can be kept a secret but this new practice of the Nepal government simply shows the attitude of political culture in Nepal and its democratic values.
