Nepal, March 28 -- The public spat between Kulman Ghising, the recently dismissed Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), and his boss, Dipak Khadka, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, attests to the popular perception of the KP Sharma Oli government's dysfunctionality. Ghising, a highly educated professional engineer, was appointed the MD of NEA for the first time in September 2016 for a four-year term by then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Prachanda, of the Maoist Centre.

The first stint

One of Ghising's significant actions as MD was to stop electricity leakage and "book local businesses, who in collusion with NEA staff, were stealing the electricity meant for households, without paying a penny" (...