34 lawmakers claim full marks for attendance

Records released by the Parliament show 34 lawmakers attended all sittings of the first session of the 19th parliamentary assembly without fail.

The 19th parliamentary assembly consists of 87 lawmakers – out of whom 34 lawmakers claimed stellar attendance records by attending all 47 sittings held during the first session.

Speaker, former Maldivian leader Mohamed Nasheed excused himself from four parliamentary sittings for official reasons, while Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla excused herself one sitting because she had been away on an official visit.

Four Male’ City lawmakers failed to claim full attendance marks; North Machangolhi MP Mohamed Rasheed, South Maafannu MP Adam Ali, West Maafannu MP Ibrahim Falah, and Vilimale’ MP Ahmed Usham.

Usham had been the only lawmaker to take a leave of absence during the first session. He took a leave of absence of three days.

The lawmaker who took the highest number of sick leaves during the first session is Vilingili MP Saud Hussain. He excused himself from 12 sittings for health reasons.

The attendance record of the 19th parliamentary assembly shows a significant overall improvement compared to the attendance record of the previous parliamentary assembly.

The Parliament concluded its first session after a one-week extension and went into recess on September 5.

The first session of the 19th parliamentary assembly saw lawmakers clear through the greatest workload in Maldivian parliamentary history. Speaker Nasheed himself voiced satisfaction over work, which he said deserved a ‘B+’.

WORK STATISTICS:

• 31 bills presented, 14 bills cleared.
• 21 resolutions presented, 9 resolutions cleared.
• 15 motions submitted by the government, 12 motions cleared.
• 22 motions submitted by Speaker, 17 motions cleared.
• 9 motions raised by individual lawmakers, 9 motions cleared.
• 39 reports on other cases, 35 cases cleared.
• 20 requests to question Cabinet ministers, 14 questioning sessions held.