Ministers signing performance agreements with Prime Minister Balendra Shah is a welcome step for a government that has promised better governance, social justice and prosperity. The agreements spell out the tasks and targets ministers are expected to meet during the current fiscal year, giving them a clearer sense of what they are responsible for delivering. Finance Minister Dr Swarnim Wagle, Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, Home Minister Sudhan Gurung, Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, Law Minister Sobita Gautam and other ministers signed the agreements at Singha Durbar on Wednesday. Chief Secretary Govinda Bahadur Karki also signed an agreement with the prime minister, making it clear that accountability should extend beyond ministers to the senior bureaucracy as well. The move is important because governments often make ambitious promises but struggle to turn them into results. By putting ministerial responsibilities on paper, Shah is trying to establish a system in which ministers can be assessed against specific targets rather than broad political claims. It also gives the prime minister a stronger basis to ask why a ministry has fallen short. More importantly, the agreements remind ministers that they are accountable not only to the government but also to the people who depend on their ministries for public services. That could help create a stronger culture of responsibility. Ministers know what they have agreed to deliver, while citizens have a clearer basis for asking whether those commitments have been fulfilled.
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The agreements will also help PM Shah keep his ministers focused on the government's agenda. Ministries often compete for attention, resources and political priority. Clear targets can bring greater discipline to that process. They can also push ministers and secretaries to prioritise urgent administrative tasks and political commitments. Still, signing an agreement does not by itself improve the performance of a ministry. Nepal has seen plenty of plans, policies and commitments that looked good on paper but produced little change. Actual performance requires competent leadership, sufficient resources, capable civil servants, timely decisions, coordination among ministries, political stability and regular monitoring. It also requires consequences when agreed targets are repeatedly missed. The bureaucracy will have a major role to play. Ministers provide political direction, but secretaries and other senior officials turn decisions into programmes and services. If political leadership and the bureaucracy pull in different directions, even a well-prepared performance agreement will achieve little. Chief Secretary Karki signing his own agreement with Shah is therefore significant. Accountability needs to run through the administrative chain, not end at the minister's office. Another issue that cannot be ignored is that ministers may not remain in office for the full term of the agreement. Political pressures, internal disputes or changes within the government can force a minister to leave. What happens to the targets then?
The answer should be straightforward: the commitments must belong to the ministry and the government, not to the individual who signed the document. A successor should inherit the targets, review them where necessary and remain responsible for delivering them. Otherwise, a change of minister could become an easy way to abandon unfinished work. PM Shah should also avoid presenting Wednesday's signing ceremony as an achievement in itself. The real test starts now. The government should make key targets public and review progress every quarter. Ministers who deliver should receive political backing, while those who repeatedly fail should face consequences. Bureaucrats should face the same scrutiny when administrative delays or non-cooperation hinder progress. Public trust will not grow because ministers signed documents at Singha Durbar. It will grow when citizens see those commitments translated into better services and faster results that improve their daily lives. PM Shah has taken a sensible first step. He now needs to turn these agreements into a result-oriented mechanism by ensuring that targets are met and commitments are delivered. Ministers must abide by their commitments, and bureaucrats must help deliver them. Only then will these agreements become more than another set of documents gathering dust in the Prime Minister's Office and ministries.
