fruitlessly

Others point out that politicians have long been interested mainly in their own well-being, fruitlessly debating a new constitution for the past seven years while paying little attention to governing.

还有人指出尼泊尔的政治家们一直更关注于他们自己的幸福以及长达七年徒劳无获的关于新宪法的争吵，而在此期间，却很少把心思放在对国家的管理上。