Parliament cancels 10 sessions in second term for lack of issues to debate

Parliament regulation states that its second term shall last from June until August. It also requires the parliament to hold sessions on every Monday, Tues and Wednesday, excluding public holidays. This means that the parliament was required to hold a total of 26 session up until July this year.

On the contrary, the parliament convened on only 16 sessions during this second term. The remaining 10 sessions were cancelled as the parliament did not have sufficient issues to debate.

Parliament has recently been holding a single session per week, although last and this week had seen two sessions conducted.

The sessions had recently seen just one issue discussed per day. The only matter discussed and decided by the parliament yesterday was the issue of granting consent to Azima Shakoor to remain as the Attorney General.

Parliament committees have slowed down as the MPs are off in the islands campaigning for their presidential candidates. While all committees have come to halt yesterday pending reshuffle of their composition following a number of MPs changing parties, the majority of the committees has been idle or had done little work during the recent weeks.

Important bills are still pending committee reviews, including the penal code bill, the police act bill, evidence bill and the bill on criminal procedures. A number of bills on businesses and taxation are also stalled in parliament committee review.