By Usha Wagle Gautam


The Federation of Nepalese Journalists-Qatar (FNJ) recently organised a six-hour-long public debate on the upcoming convention of the Nonresident Nepalese Association-National Coordination Council (NRNA-NCC) at Quality Hypermarket.  
Candidates for the new working committee of the council talked about their agendas and answered questions posed to them by representatives of Qatar-based Nepalese organisations.
Candidates for the post of chairman — Arjun Bhattarai, Bill Gurung, Binesh Tamang and Mohammed Sakir Ali — talked about their plans for the committee after getting elected. Bhattarai said he will work to drive investments to Nepal, especially from Nepalese expats in Qatar. Gurung said his focus will be on improving relations between expats in Qatar. Tamang said he will focus on the social activities, while Ali said he already has experience working with NRNA-NCC. The audience was then given a chance to ask questions to the candidates. Nabaraj BK, Mohan Shah, Youbraj Pandey, Rudra BK, Munaf Miyar and Shiba Raj asked questions.
The candidates for the first vice-chairman then got a chance to speak. Krishna Bhattarai talked about reforming NRNA-NCC, which he said is politicised. Muktada Musalman said he will collaborate with the Ministry of Interior if he gets elected. Nagendra Pokhrel hinted at launching cultural activities targeted at labourers.
Candidates for other posts also spoke at the debate. In general their focus was on uniting Qatar-based Nepalese youth, financial transparency, labourer-centric policies and programmes and focus on better co-ordination among Nepalese residents in Qatar. There are 2,808 registered members of NRNA-NCC. They will vote to elect 75 people to the NRNA-NCC’s new working committee.
The programme was co-ordinated by FNJ President Ganesh Prasad Banjade, and conducted by Secretary Mohammed Aziz Ali.