Kathmandu, Feb 24 (Inditop.com) Nepal’s coalition government Wednesday appointed a new education and sports minister after the incumbent was alleged to be involved in a massive scam, making international donors warn they would halt aid.
Ram Chandra Kushawa, who belonged to the Terai Madhesi Loktantrik Party, resigned following the immediate appointment of his successor by President Ram Baran Yadav, at a low-key swearing-in ceremony.
The new minister, Sarbendra Nath Shukla, is a former tourism and civil aviation minister belonging to the same Terai party.
Kushawa was named in a massive education scam that involved “selling” jobs to teachers who were to be appointed on the basis of a quota system.
Following the allegations, international donors, who were funding a school sector reform project for five years in Nepal, warned the government that they would stop assistance.
The cornered government, in turn, pressured the Terai party to recall the tainted minister and began halting all controversial appointments made by him.
The move is a rare one in Nepal’s political history. Many key politicians were named in graft charges but were given a clean chit by the court or the investigations were dropped.
