The Bhutanese Leading the way.
On 20 May 2026, this paper asked the media focal person of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for the amount spent on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system and the manpower allocated for GST implementation so far.
The MoF media focal person said they were extremely tied up with the Parliament session and could not respond.
In the first week of June, this paper put the same question to the MoF during the monthly Meet-the-Press with the Cabinet. However, the GST Chief who attended the Meet-the-Press refused to provide the data and instead went off script, casting aspersions on the paper’s question.
With the information still not provided, this paper followed up with the press officer for the Meet-the-Press, who is also with the Prime Minister’s Office.
The officer again requested the MoF to provide the data, but the MoF still did not send it and instead resent its earlier response, in which the requested information was missing.
In another instance, there is a minister who does not meet anyone without an appointment, and the same applies to the minister’s team.
In yet another case, a minister requested a Chief to share some information with the media, but the Chief did not cooperate.
The above are not just issues of access to information; there is a deeper malaise.
So far, we have been blaming the RCSC rules and the reforms for making civil servants afraid to speak. While that still applies, there now appears to be another factor at play.
It seems that the problem is now a lack of coordination within the government, and as a result, each ministry, agency, and even individual official is doing their own thing.
Amid this confusion, new mini power centres appear to be emerging across government agencies, and if this continues, overall governance will be affected.
Bhutan may be a small country, but it has done well because it has been run as a disciplined, well-coordinated, and tightly managed ship.
The head of the government, the Prime Minister, must ensure that all ministers, agencies, and bureaucrats are on the same page when it comes to good governance.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
— Abraham Lincoln
