Showing utter contempt for international calls for a quick return to democracy in Nepal, King Gyanendra expanded his cabinet for the third time on Thursday, taking the number of ministers to 24. The two-tier council now has 16 cabinet rank and eight assistant ministers.One of the Assistant Ministers, Jagat Gauchan, has served many years in prison for the attempted murder of Padam Thakurathi, a veteran journalist, in the 80s. Thakurathi escaped the attempt, but lost one of his eyes and sustained major head injury.Allegations of corruption are also rife about many other ministers. The cabinet expansion was announced last night by the government-controlled Nepal Television and Radio.The move has signalled the King’s unwillingness to allow political parties to inch closer to power.The expansion came after Lakhdar Brahimi, special envoy to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, met the King. The envoy offered the UN’s help in resolving the conflict in Nepal. An early restoration of democracy—as suggested by Annan when he met the King in Jakarta in April—was another gentle reminder.The cabinet expansion was greeted with surprise by the high-powered international mission, which came here to express solidarity with the movement for press freedom.Though the cabinet has a reasonable regional and ethnic balance, the new entrants are either seen as hardliners and controversial, or political nobodies. Many of the freshly-inducted ministers have been associated with either the Nepali Congress or the main Communist party, CPN-UML, at some point.
