Lhakpa Quendren

The former National Council Chairperson Dasho Sonam Kinga (PhD) yesterday appeared on social media exploring “possibilities of contesting 2023 elections”.

While it is not clear whether he intends to form a new political party or join an existing party, the announcement appeared in a video clip shared yesterday on the Facebook page Peldruk Pelbar. 

“I have been asked many times now if I am forming a new political party or joining an existing one. For now, this is not important, but what is important is why forming a new political party or joining the existing party,” he said. 

“If you look at the political landscape in our country today, we have existing as well as new political parties formed by and around political leaders. I respect them and appreciate their contributions to our democracy,” he said. 

However, he said, there is an alternative. “The alternative is forming a party around a vision. Political parties must serve the vision and the vision should not become a servant of political parties,” said Dasho Sonam Kinga.

“Therefore, you must first have the public discourse around the vision for greater economic wellbeing and propensity,” he said. “We need to have first very clear reason and objective which are truly national in character and scope of why we are forming a political party.”

He said that a political party that is united, broad-based, and inclusive would transcend beyond the simplistic dichotomy of either old or new parties. 

He said that his aspiration was to transform Bhutan into a nation of entrepreneurs. Small and medium enterprises and startups, he said, are brought to life in the entrepreneurial culture driven by innovation and technology in the country.

“I believe that the Bhutanese particularly our youths make this happen with their entrepreneurial skills and spirits. I dare believe in Bhutan becoming an entrepreneurial Kingdom,” he said.

“So this I believe is the path that we need to take and the goal we must pursue to address the greatest economic challenges of our time particularly unemployment and migration,” he said.

He said that the time calls for placing entrepreneurship at the centre of the national agenda. “The entrepreneurial sector, in my view, has to become a new engine of economic growth.”

Businesses and enterprises founded on skills and talents, branding and exports driven by science and technology, overarching the national goal, and creating greater economic prosperity, among others, he said, are some strategies for an entrepreneurial Bhutan.