Parliamentary sitting scheduled for tomorrow as session set to conclude

A parliamentary sitting has been slated for Thursday – the day the third extension to the session is set to expire – while approval for the new administration’s cabinet still remains pending.

The parliament’s third session was extended for a third time on December 18^th as approval for the new administration’s ministerial cabinet was pending. This was the same day the report on granting approval to the cabinet had been slated on the sitting’s agenda. However, Speaker Mohamed Aslam decided to send back the report to the Committee, citing the report to be incomplete as it lacked the mandates of the ministry.

No parliamentary sittings have been held since then to date. Nor has the parliament’s Government Oversight Committee which reviews approval to the cabinet convened for a meeting. Subsequently, the matter of granting approval to the cabinet has been stalled for a long time.

The third extension to the third session of the parliament is set to expire tomorrow. Parliament’s Communications Director Hassan Ziyau confirmed to Sun on Wednesday that a sitting has been slated for tomorrow, adding the agenda will be disclosed later.

Government Oversight Committee’s chairperson, West Maafannu MP Mohamed Falah on Tuesday said approval for the new administration’s cabinet can only be granted after the holidays as many lawmakers are out of town at the moment in light of the school holidays – resulting in failure to meet the committee’s quorum.

If the third session of the parliament is not extended at Thursday’s sitting, the parliament will likely go to recess without granting approval to the cabinet.

The parliament will reconvene in February.

While some MDP parliamentarians – who hold a majority in the Parliament – have previously called against backing some of the ministers, the party has made no official decision on the matter. The party has come under public scrutiny for stalling the approval of the cabinet.

The Attorney General has expressed concern citing approval of the cabinet and approval of ministries’ mandates have been carried out separately before, with the former being done first.

The new administration, with three new ministries, has a total of 22 ministries. Approval was sought for the cabinet on November 20^th, three days after the new administration took office. The Committee has previously decided that a vote will be asked for each minister separately.