Time and agenda of Tues’ extraordinary Parliament sitting remain unclear

The Parliament has announced that an extraordinary sitting will be held on Tuesday, but has share either the time or the agenda for the sitting, even with parliamentarians.

A spokesperson from the Parliament announced the sitting – which will mark the fourth time for the legislative assembly to reconvene during recess - on Monday afternoon.

However, the Parliament has yet to announce the time the sitting will begin, and nor has it publicized the agenda.

The administrative desk of the legislative assembly usually publicizes the agenda for upcoming sittings a day ahead. However, the agenda for Tuesday’s sitting hasn’t been shared as of this morning.

Efforts to clarify this through the Parliament’s media office have been unsuccessful.

“We will share the agenda for the sitting once its finalized,” responded a spokesperson on Tuesday morning.

 While the Parliament has yet to share either the time or agenda for the sitting, multiple parliamentarians from the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) told Sun that they plan on using their supermajority in the Parliament to push through a controversial media bill that seeks to replace the existing self-regulatory system with a government-controlled commission.

The bill was passed by the Independent Institutions Committee on Monday evening amid chaos as journalists erupted in protest and one PNC parliamentarian snatched a mic from an opposition lawmaker and threw it to the ground to prevent him from speaking.

A senior figure within the PNC’s parliamentary group told Sun after the vote that the ruling party plans to pass the bill as soon as possible. He said the party plans to present the bill and have it passed during Tuesday’s sitting.

“The committee passed the bill after addressing all major concerns. We plan to pass the bill tomorrow,” he said.

The Petition Committee is set to convene for a meeting at 11:00 am to made a decision regarding the response by the Independent Institutions Committee to a petition filed by 151 journalists from 41 media outlets demanding the withdrawal of the controversial legislature.