Kathmandu: Whenever someone wants to know or research about any person or product, their first base tends to be the website of that particular person or product. Websites, in contrast to social media profiles, are supposed to carry authentic, reliable, and credible information. When it comes to those holding public positions, their personal websites are especially important. But things are different with Nepali politicians.
Nepali Live Today surfed through the personal websites of many Nepali politicians and found, unexpectedly, that most of them were either un-updated, unreachable, or full of errors.
Let’s begin with the personal website of Ishwar Pokhrel, general secretary of CPN-UML, the country’s largest communist party. If you visit Pokhrel’s website, you will find some funny date errors. The website mentions that he became Central Committee Department Head of CPN- UML in “20608”. Another error says that he was appointed as secretary of the Party’s secretariat (CPN UML) in “20598”.
Pokhrel launched his website on October 10 but the typo is not corrected yet.
Another leader of CPN UML Prabhu Sah also has his personal website and it does include some blunders as well. On the website’s home page, he is mentioned as Central Committee Member & Chairman of Nepal Communist Party, Province – 2. But the Nepal Communist Party where he was once associated was scrapped by the Supreme Court on March 7. The decision of March 7 by SC revived the two original parties that were merged in 2018 to form the ruling party.
Likewise, the website also lacks regular updates. Its event section has not been updated since July 22, 2017. And the news section is also not updated since February 8, 2020.
Websites are supposed to carry authentic, reliable, and credible information. But things are different with Nepali politicians’ websites.
Pokhrel and Sah are not just two political leaders who haven’t updated or corrected their websites. There are many others like them. Defence Minister Dr Minendra Prasad Rijal also hasn’t updated his website. Although he was appointed the Defence Minister a month ago, his website does not say anything about it. No recent developments related to Rijal are mentioned on the website. The website’s home page just says, “Minendra Rijal is a politician and current member of the house of the representative.” Also in the ‘About Us’ section, there is no mention of his current position.
Congress leader Gagan Thapa, the firebrand NC leader, also does not have a functional website. His website is unreachable. It seems like he has just bought the domain of the website and left the part of filling up the contents. The case is similar to CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal. His website is also unreachable.
Relatively, to some extent, the website of former prime minister and chairman of CPN UML, KP Sharma Oli, is updated. The latest content on his website was updated on November 12. Before that, it was updated on September 19.
Unlike the aforementioned political leaders, surprisingly former prime minister and chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has a very well-managed website. It is timely updated. The website includes even the recent news, articles, and releases related to Dahal. But the gallery section of Dahal’s website has not been updated. The latest photos in the gallery feature the program dated back to June 5, 2016.
These leaders might have several reasons for not making their websites worth visiting and trustworthy. But the irony is the leaders who tried to sell us the dream of digital Nepal themselves have a sketchy digital presence.
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