MP slams Ameer for being ‘too busy’ to answer questions

Thimarafushi MP Abdulla Riyaz on Tuesday expressed concern over finance minister Ibrahim Ameer's inability to attend the parliament due to lack of time.

Riyaz expressed this concern in Tuesday’s parliament sitting while expressing his displeasure over Ameer’s reluctance to appear before the parliament to answer a question he had sent three months ago.

On agenda for Tuesday morning’s session of parliament was education minister Dr Aishath Ali. Riyaz brought it to the notice of the speaker that the question posed to Ameer could not be answered.

Riyaz, who has asked several questions to various ministers in the recent past, said the rules of the parliament state that the minister has to answer the questions raised by the members within 14 days. However, since it has not happened, an MP could not perform his duties, he said.

"We are now getting the answer after three months. I had approached the Majlis yesterday as some of the questions I had sent were unanswered. The reply given to me [by the parliament] was that the minister did not have time to respond," Riyaz said.

"I don't think this is the way it should be. Another recess is ahead. Once again, if we don't answer the questions we have sent before recess, we are not able to do what we need to do as members of parliament."

Speaker Mohamed Nasheed defended the minister, after consulting his panel over Riyaz's concerns. Nasheed linked this failure to the lack of a parliamentary system of governance.  

"As long as we don't change this system, which is not a parliamentary system, it will actually continue to be this way," he said.

Nasheed said that questioning 10 ministers per day would not clear the backlog in parliament.

Following Nasheed's remarks, Riyaz took a second procedural objection and once again expressed concern.

"I wanted to raise this issue as the questions I am asking the finance minister [Ameer] has gone so long without an answer," he said.

"I don't believe that this rule says that ministers can answer when they have time," Riyaz said.

Accepting Riyaz's second objection, Nasheed acknowledged that the delayed response by the minister is an issue. 

"If we ask the minister [to come] here, he has to come. That's the way it is in the Constitution.I am going to have to clarify this issue with the finance minister [Ameer], to see whether his excuse is legit," Nasheed said.

If it is not a legit excuse, he will invite the minister again, Nasheed said.