IPPAN Annual General Meeting Begins Amidst Controversy Over Leadership Election

Kathmandu. The 24th Annual General Meeting and 8th Convention of the Independent Power Producers' Association, Nepal (IPPAN), the umbrella organization of hydropower developers, has begun amidst controversy. Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, inaugurated the 24th Annual General Meeting on Friday morning. The opening session was concluded in the presence of the Energy Minister, and the closed session has now begun.

However, controversy has arisen regarding the selection of new leadership. Candidacies have been registered with panels for the new leadership. On the other hand, some members, including the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary, are raising questions, stating that the election is being pushed forward without completing the amendment process of the bylaws.

Some members have been demanding that the election process should not proceed without completing the mandate given by the previous general assembly for the amendment of the bylaws. IPPAN General Secretary Balram Khatiwada and other members have drawn the attention of the organization to the demand not to advance the election process without amending the bylaws.

IPPAN's closed session has now begun. In the closed session, the disgruntled group is demanding that the bylaws be amended and their demands be addressed. General Secretary Khatiwada had requested that the election program be advanced only after passing the bylaws from the general assembly and publishing the final list of candidates.

However, the election committee had already published the final list of candidates on Thursday. Although the election process was supposed to start after the inauguration ceremony, the voting process has not yet begun.

• What is the main controversy?

In the 21st Annual General Meeting, a majority of members had strongly opposed the provisions related to the executive committee in IPPAN's amended bylaws of 2078 BS.

Following that protest, a 5-member 'Bylaws Amendment and Rewriting Draft Committee' was formed under the convenorship of advisor Bhanubhakta Pokharel to make the organization more participatory, representative, and dignified.

The report prepared by that committee was unanimously approved by the 23rd Annual General Meeting. The argument of the dissatisfied faction is that proceeding directly to the election without amending the bylaws in accordance with the report and decision approved by the 23rd General Assembly is illegal.

Similarly, when Deputy General Secretary Prakash Dulal accused that the bylaws were missing and the general assembly was being held against the bylaws, Chairman Ganesh Karki refuted it, claiming that the general assembly was completely legal. Chairman Karki stated that the 24th Annual General Meeting and 8th Convention of the organization are being organized on the scheduled date legally.

The Dulal faction, however, has been alleging that institutional decisions have not been implemented, the process of amending the bylaws is incomplete, and members have not been clearly informed about it. It was on this issue that public accusations and counter-accusations took place at the leadership level.

Amidst this controversy, the process of selecting a new leadership has begun. As soon as the process started, the Dulal group also registered their candidacy by forming a panel. However, even after registering their candidacy, they are maintaining their stance that the bylaws should be amended by the general assembly. The General Secretary Khatiwada group has expressed dissatisfaction, stating that the election schedule has been published ignoring the decisions of the 21st and 23rd General Assemblies. They have also demanded in the closed session that the 24th General Assembly should first amend the bylaws and then proceed with the election of the executive committee.

Their demand is that the election program should be advanced only after amending the bylaws in accordance with the report of the Pokharel committee, which was clearly approved by the 23rd General Assembly.

However, the effort for consensus on the post of Senior Vice President by Chairman Ganesh Karki and other officials' team has failed. But with the agreement to add two vice presidents and two secretaries, the election process has moved forward. Previously, there were provisions for five vice presidents and five secretaries. Now, there will be a competition between Uttam Bholan Lama and Balram Khatiwada for the post of Senior Vice President.

According to IPPAN's bylaws, the Senior Vice President automatically becomes the President. The bylaws were amended earlier to change the provision of the Senior Vice President automatically becoming the President due to much controversy regarding the amendment of the bylaws.

For this term, the Senior Vice President will automatically become the President, but for the next term, the selection will be made through direct election. Even with this provision, the post of Senior Vice President is considered the main competition for leadership for the upcoming term. If there is no consensus this time, there will be a competition for the post of Senior Vice President (future leadership) between the groups of current Vice President Lama and General Secretary Khatiwada.

According to the IPPAN Election Committee, 6 office bearers have already been elected unopposed. Kabita Pokharel has been elected unopposed as Deputy General Secretary, and 5 secretaries - Abhigya Malla, Isha Shrestha, Kubermani Nepal, Vijaymohan Bhattari, and Suman Joshi - have been elected unopposed.

IPPAN has 683 voters and more than 700 member companies. IPPAN has been in dialogue with the government on issues of expanding private investment in the energy sector, Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), transmission infrastructure, and policy reforms for a long time.