When there was a gap of more than a month between two prime ministers in May, the joke in cocktail circuits was that it was difficult to tell the difference between having a government and not having one. Others said it was better not to have a government because at least that way no one could make any major gaffes.

Today, we have a 31-member multi-partisan government led by a prime minister who has served in that post twice before. We are trying not to be cynical about it, hoping that a government representing diverse interest groups should be the best option at a time when representative democracy is in deep freeze.

But it is its own political diversity that has mired this cabinet in contradictions. Coalition partners are working at cross purposes driven by vested interests. The water resources minister is the left-hand man of the RPP president who held that portfolio before. The minister of communication doesn't even bother to hide the fact that he is a palace plant. The prime minister himself is also defence minister. Between them, they have hydropower, telecom and the military, three of the most economically-important sectors in Nepal today.

The UML is inside the coalition, but seems to be a spectator to the status quoists. The UML's legitimacy rests on being able to move the peace process forward with a unilateral ceasefire if need be, yet every time it raises the issue it is spanked on the knuckles. The army is bent on bringing its strength to 120,000 and inducting advanced weaponry, and it is happy with the sympathetic civilians in Singha Darbar.

We aren't expecting any major breaktrhoughs (like a ceasefire) from this lot. So, it's best they concentrate on one small do-able thing at a time: rushing relief to the far west where people are on the verge of starvation, helping cholera victims in the mid-west, rehabilitating the flood-displaced in the eastern tarai, ensuring that some of the money pledged in the budget actually reaches the schools and health posts in remote areas this year, or nabbing dacoits who are on a rampage in Rautahat.

We could also ask them to publish the much-delayed auditor general's report so the Nepali people know where their money went in the last three years. We could ask them to investigate the cases of the recently disappeared. But we won't, because we know it's not going to happen.