On a tired Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal hit reset. Nepal’s interim government chose doers over talkers. After weeks of grief and anger on the streets, an interim team walked into Singha Durbar with a simple promise: fix what’s broken, then hand the country clean elections. Former chief justice Sushila Karki stepped in as prime minister to steady the ship and get ready for elections. Then came the picks that set the tone; seasoned hands matched to the problems they know best.
First up: Rameshwor Khanal at Finance. If you’ve followed Nepal’s economy, you’ve heard his name. He’s the former finance secretary who helped modernise public finance and, just months ago, led a high-level team that produced a 447-page plan to fix what’s broken: from tax to spending to investment. In short, the homework is already done, and now the man who wrote the plan gets to run it. That’s a rare alignment in Nepali politics, and it’s exactly what a tight budget moment needs. On Day 1, he formed a taskforce to rank projects by impact and moved to axe scattered, politically-pushed schemes, freeing money for real priorities, including the polls. That’s discipline the economy has been begging for.
Energy, roads, and cities landed with Kul man Ghising. For a generation that grew up studying by candlelight, he’s the guy who turned the lights back on. As head of the Nepal Electricity Authority, Ghising is widely credited with ending chronic load-shedding and pulling the utility into better shape. Now he’s in charge of Energy, plus the heavy-lifting ministries of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and Urban Development. Power, roads, cities: the basics of daily life are literally his lane. His first signature as minister was blunt: recover long-overdue electricity dues from special “dedicated/trunk line” users. It’s a money-and-fairness move that signals better cashflow for upgrades and a level field for everyone else. He’s also already hosting partners, with India’s ambassador reaffirming support; useful when you’re pushing cross-border power and big builds.
The Home Ministry, where security, rule of law, and public trust meet, went to Om Prakash Aryal, a human-rights lawyer known for public-interest cases and, in recent weeks, for helping negotiate a way out of the crisis. It’s a job that needs a steady legal mind, someone who can hold the line without losing the public. Aryal has spent years inside courtrooms arguing for accountability; now he has to deliver it on the street, too. He’ll also oversee Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs; another sign the interim team wants the rules followed, not bent. His early steps matched the moment: a national day of mourning and support for families of those lost in the unrest, plus a clear pledge to deliver free and timely elections and probe the violence. A Home Minister starting with care, law, and timelines is the tone the street wanted to hear.
Put together, the choices feel intentional. Finance goes to a reformer who knows the numbers. Energy and infrastructure go to the engineer who already proved he can fix a system people thought was unfixable. Home and law go to a lawyer whose career is about fairness and restraint. It’s not flashy. It’s not a party deal. It’s a lineup built for work.
Above them, Prime Minister Sushila Karki, Nepal’s former chief justice, has kept the focus tight: stabilize now, vote next. She met the Election Commission to lock in preparations, and the cabinet set up an independent panel, led by a respected former anti-corruption judge, to investigate the deadly clashes. Accountability with a clock on it: report due in three months.
Young Nepalis asked for competence and honesty. This cabinet answers with experience and track records. If they can keep politics quiet and execute: lights steady, budgets clean, streets calm, then the next few months can be about rebuilding trust, not just buildings. That, more than any speech, is how you show a country you’re listening.
