The Bhutanese Leading the way.
According to the MP from Dramedtse-Ngatshang, Ugyen Wangdi, one of the pledges to implement within 120 days of the government was to recruit foreign domestic workers by reviewing and amending immigration rules and regulation.
He said that however, during one of the press conference of the government, the Home Minister said that the issues needs extensive discussions and analysis to ensure the country’s security. It has been 200 days since the government joined office but no development has taken place yet.
The MP said that while making a pledge, the government should have thought about the security issue but it seems that government has forgotten about security of the country at the time and now government is concerned about the security of the country.
He questioned the Home Minister on when the foreign domestic workers will be recruited.
Home Minister Lyonpo Sherub Gyeltshen said, “We have talked about this issue in the past session and we are talking about it again but the government is already working on it. We acknowledge that we have pledged to recruit foreign domestic workers within 120 days but while implementing it, we have to look into many things like what are the good and bad sides of the matter and we cannot compromise bigger national interest for small benefits.”
Lyonpo said, “The MP said that the government might not have thought about the security of the country while making a pledge but I want to inform that no matter what kind of work we do or plans to do, we have to look at the bigger interest.”
He said, “While implementing it, we are looking into what are the problems associated with it and how can we resolve this issue and we do not intend to deicide abruptly. We would like to request people to give us some time extension and as soon as we make a decision, we will share it.”
Lyonpo further said, “When it comes to the security of the country, it will change with time, what used to be considered as threat to the country’s security, today it might not be so tomorrow.”
MP Ugyen Wangdi said, “As a politician, we should make pledges but while making pledges we should keep in our mind the country’s security and independence.
If the member of political party ignores the country’s security and makes a pledge to win votes, then this pledge is not fully applicable.”
He said, “As an opposition party, we are concerned about the security of the country, we didn’t pledge to bring in foreign domestic workers in the country because we thought that this problem can be resolved by hiring domestic workers and if we wanted we can make the same pledge. The government has pledged to recruit foreign domestic worker within 120 days and if it is not able to do so, they should acknowledge it.”
The Home Minister said, “As a Bhutanese, everyone is concerned about the security of the country. I agree that we were not able to fulfill our pledge regarding foreign worker but if we take an example from the past, most of the pledges that past governments pledged to fulfill within certain period were not fulfilled and people have to understand our situation because at the end we have to look at the bigger interest.”
