| | Qanuni views absenteeism as a major legislative problem Pajhwok
12/07/2007
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KABUL - The Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) speaker Thursday described the absence of lawmakers from important sessions as a fundamental problem during the outgoing parliamentary year.
Parliamentarians absenteeism could be ascribed to non-implementation of their recommendations by the government, Yunus Qanuni told a news conference here. In previous years also, several sessions had to be adjourned for lack of quorum.
New to the relevance of Parliament, the government had been non-serious about implementing the bills approved by legislators, remarked the soft-spoken, who saw a trust deficit between the elected public representatives and the rulers.
Achievements of the Wolesi Jirga were undermined by the dearth of confidence on the governments part, he said, reasoning vaguely defined executive and legislative powers also created certain problems for the Wolesi Jirga in transacting its business in an effective way.
For instance, he explained, sometimes people wanted the Lower House to act on issues that fell in the governments domain. "We never claim having met peoples expectations. Given the current situation and Parliaments role, we have certainly done what we could."
About the status of the foreign minister, Qanuni reaffirmed his position: "Rangin Dadfar Spanta no longer holds that portfolio. Its up to the president to respect the decision of MPs."
The parliamentarians did not adopt an inflexible stance on the unseating of Spanta because they wanted to avert a confrontation, Qanuni said, adding: "If we are saying today what we said yesterday. Our stance remains unchanged."
In response to a query about the monitoring of executive activities by MPs, Qanuni alleged the government was intolerant of any restraints on its powers. The gap between the two key state institutions could have widened further if Parliament had kept a stricter watch on the executive, Qanuni concluded.
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