Why does Nepal need ministers with professional backgrounds?
Newly appointed ministers in the latest round of cabinet expansion pose for a photograph following the oath ceremony, in Kathmandu, on Friday, March 31, 2023. In Nepal, political parties and their leaders mainly select their representatives for ministerial roles based on criteria such as their experiences with party association, subjective preferences of the party chairperson, political work, rotation policy, calculations for government alliances, balancing inner-party groups, and also preferring someone who has provided funding to the party for elections, but not professional backgrounds. In other words, criteria for selecting someone as a minister have been mostly limited to political reasons and justifications, dynamics within and among political parties, government alliances, or references and preferences of political leaders, without much consideration for professionalism. Does it mean that Nepal does not need ministers with professional backgrounds? Global practices and rati...