Mp Has Suggested Holding The Regular Session Of The National Assembly

MP Osama Al- Shaheen has suggested holding the regular session of the National Assembly even without the government, considering a number of legislative and supervisory priorities have been pending for quite some time.

Al-Shaheen pointed out there are many vital bills in the agenda of the Assembly and the responses to parliamentary questions must be discussed immediately, while the reports of permanent and temporary committees and commissions of inquiry contain important recommendations and results which must be tackled in the Assembly.

He urged the speaker and other MPs to hold the regular session of the Assembly immediately to serve the interests of the country and citizens. He argued the 1962 Constitution regulates sessions of the Assembly, so it set three conditions for convening the session — right time, right place and quorum which means majority of the MPs.

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He explained that the Constitution restricts postponement of sessions; citing Article 106 which stipulates issuance of a decree in this regard. He added it is not allowed to extend the period of one month, the session should not be postponed more than once, and the duration of postponement should not be considered to be within the session round.

He asserted the presence of the government is not a condition for holding parliamentary sessions and validity of decisions taken therein. He clarified that Article 116 mentions this as a constitutional and political duty on the part of the government. He added the Constitution specifies the duties of all parties and punishes those proven to have not performed their duties. He wonders why the Parliament is punished because of the government’s failure to perform its duty to attend legislative sessions, especially since the said article mentioned the presence of the Prime Minister or some ministers. “We have a prime minister who has the ability to attend sessions in fulfillment of his duty,” he stressed.

He went on to say that the 2009 Parliament endorsed the proposal of former MPs Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Musallam Al-Barrak, Marzouq Al-Hubaini, Abdul Wahid Al-Awadhi and Hassan Jowhar to hold the session once there is quorum without prejudice to the fact that all those present are elected members without appointment by virtue of their posts. He hopes the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee will adopt this proposal and prepare its report soon to stop this wrong practice.

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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