Cabinet review after recess, committee chair says
Parliament will reopen in February next year after the recess.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
The meetings of the Government Accountability Committee, which is reviewing the ministerial approval, do not have a quorum, as it is during the holidays, and the next meetings will be held after the holidays, Committee Chair Mohammed Falah, MP for Maafannu West constituency has said.
The chairman referred the matter back to the committee on Monday last week, saying that the report on the approval of ministers by the committee had not fulfilled the requirements of the rules of procedure. Thus:
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The committee first decided to ask the Parliament to vote on the approval of each minister separately. Although all of them met the ministerial requirements, the committee did not decide whether to approve them
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The MDP MP for Thulhaadhoo constituency Hisaan raised a point of order and said that according to the rules of the Parliament, when the committee sends its report to the Parliament, it must decide on the matter in two ways; it is whether or not to approve of the ministers
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Hisaan also took up the issue of the government not sending the changes in the mandate of the ministers to parliament for approval. Hisaan advocated that while approving ministers, their mandate should also be clear; on the same day, the government sent the mandate to parliament
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The Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammed Aslam, who presided over the session, decided to send the report back to the committee for completion. Therefore, a decision on the approval of the ministers was scheduled for Monday's session but the vote was not taken
Since then, the committee has not met since.
When asked about the matter, the committee chairman said that most of the members are not in the city as these are school holidays and parliamentary holidays. Therefore, the quorum required to hold the committee is not enough, he said.
"It is the recess of the parliament and a session was scheduled for the 28th this Thursday. That's just in case. So, it's the school holidays and not many members live in the city. Then three people signed up for the committee meeting, but no one showed up then either,” Falah said.
The committee has scheduled only one meeting since Monday last week. However, the committee of the day could not be held due to lack of quorum. Thus:
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The opposition MDP has a majority in the committee, which consists of eight members. Only the committee chairman, Maafannu West MP Mohammed Falaah, appeared on behalf of the party
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Besides Falaah, the ruling main party, PNC’s, Thulusdhoo constituency MP Ibrahim Naseem and the ruling coalition's MNP Vice-President, Thimarafushi constituency MP Abdullah Riyaz were the only members to attend
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PPM MP Ahmed Thorig and the other MDP and Democrats members of the committee did not attend the meeting
Asked when the committee's work would begin next, Falah said the approval of ministers was 'not a small matter' and he stressed that the matter should be studied properly with adequate time.
“I think it will be after the recess,” Falah added.
Parliament will reopen in February next year after the recess.
The session was adjourned until Monday to approve the ministers. However, no session of the parliament has been held since then.
According to the rules of the Parliament, a committee must be given three days to pass a matter before submitting its report to the Parliament. Therefore, there will be no vote on the approval of ministers this year.
