The Diplomat
Nepal’s ambassador to Spain, Dawa Phuti Sherpa, has been removed from her post by the country’s new government headed by Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Dawa Puthi Serpha was appointed to the post by former Nepali Chief Executive KP Sharma Oli and presented her Letters of Credence to the King in January 2020.
Sher Bahadur Deuba’s decision has affected not only the ambassador to Spain, but a dozen other ambassadors considered “political” as they are not members of the diplomatic service, who had been appointed by previous governments and will be replaced by others.
The measure has been criticised by the opposition and some Nepalese media, which, in the case of the ambassador to Spain, point out that from her post she mobilised one of the first flights last May to carry oxygen cylinders, ventilators and medical kits through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to deal with the effects of COVID in Nepal. In addition, they note that he was working to bring tourism back to Nepal after the pandemic.
Dawa Puthi Serpha had worked for the UN World Food Programme and is the daughter of Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to reach the summit of Everest, and Lakpa Sonam Sherpa, brother of the late tourism entrepreneur Ang Tshering Sherpa, who had a close relationship with the former prime minister and leader of the Communist Party of Nepal.
Nepal decided to have a resident ambassador in Madrid in 2018, and in April, Bharat Rayamajhi took up the post. However, in December of the same year, he was ordered to return to Kathmandu on the grounds that his work was deficient and that a new system of appointing ambassadors was to be put in place. After a year’s vacancy, his post was filled by Dawa Puthi Serpha.
