No parliamentary sitting again on Tues over lack of work

The Parliament has decided against holding a sitting on Tuesday – one of the three days of a week that the legislative assembly is required to hold sittings under its standing orders – due to lack of work.

The Parliament’s standing orders require the legislative assembly to hold sittings three days a week – on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The last parliamentary sitting was held on Wednesday last week. But the Parliament has yet to convene for a sitting this week.

The Parliament secretariat has not stated a reason for the lack of sittings.

However, several parliamentarians who spoke to Sun said the reason for the lack of sittings is due to lack of work.

While the Parliament does not have a sitting on Tuesday, it does have two committee meetings scheduled; a meeting of the Decentralization Committee and a meeting of the Petition Committee. Both meetings are scheduled to start at 11:00 am.

Parliamentarians from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have blamed the the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) over the little work to do at the Parliament, accusing the institution of failure to send crucial bills.

On Monday, MDP’s Meekail Ahmed Naseem, the parliamentary representative for South Galolhu constituency, submitted a resolution over the unexplained cancellation of sittings and the failure to honor parliamentarians’ requests to summon government ministers for questioning.

He said it was preventing the Parliament from executing its legally-mandated duties.