Beyond the Politicsof Pledges and Promises

The Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) governmentcompleted its 120 days at the helm of power on Thursday.It has been a rocky, nervous start for the new electedgovernment. And both mainstream and social media havehounded the new government on several of its ambitious,even unrealistic, election pledges. Not that this should be anagging issue for a mere fact that this is how accountabilityworks in a democracy.

The elected government and leadersare answerable to the people.During the 2018 elections, DNT had outlined 25pledges that the party promised to achieve in its first120 days in power, if elected. That is besides the party'smanifesto.The 120 days are over now. And the government hasclaimed that it has fulfilled all the 25 pledges. If anything,that is an outright lie.All it takes is a quick skim through the 120-days pledgesto understand that the government has patheticallyunderperformed, let alone fulfill all the pledges. In termsof numbers, of the 25 pledges, only few pledges have beenfulfilled in all certainty. Like it or not, the government's120-day report card reeks of utter failure, a grossunderachievement so to say, by any standard.The pledges must be quantified in terms of whetherthey have been 'fulfilled' or 'not fulfilled'. And if thissimple yardstick is used, a majority of pledges have not beenfulfilled.The report card is not just the reflection of the rulingparty's performance but also its political commitment tolive up to the expectations of the people in general andthose who voted the party to power in particular.An equation that often defines the relationshipbetween the elected and the electorate is the reciprocityof trust and confidence of the people with results andperformance of the government. Accountability comes inwhen this equation is altered. That is why...