Budget Committee: Opposition MPs boycott session over lack of time
Committee previously passed to give time to all parties
MPs at the budget review committee: opposition aligned MPs had left session over lack of time given
Opposition Members of the Parliament on Monday had left the Committee session over lack of time given to deliberate on the recommendations given by Governor of Maldives of Monetary Authority (MMA) and Auditor General on the proposed state budget for 2018.
At the start of the session Committee member Vilufushi Constituency MP Riyaz Rasheed proposed to give each MP three minutes to deliberate on the budget. However, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group member Ibrahim Shareef indicated the time given to MPs for deliberation was already decided.
MP Shareef pointed out that in a previous meeting MPs had agreed that PPM will have 30 minutes, 20 minutes for MDP, 10 minutes to Jumhooree Party and five minutes to Government coalition partner Maldives Development Alliance (MDA). He further pointed out this was agreed on after discussions with pro-Government MPs who commanded majority of the Parliament.
However, MP Shareef said the Government allied MPs were using this very majority to silence them. Noting this was unacceptable, the Parliamentarian said this was seen every single time the Government had majority of any situation.
Jumhooree Party MPs Ali Hussain, Faisal Naseem and Hussain Mohamed had voiced their support for MP Shareef.
Pro-Government MPs had defiantly stuck to the suggestion made by MP Riyaz.
This prompted the opposition to walk out of the session. Following this the Committee had proceeded ahead with only pro-Government MPs and concluded shortly afterwards without much deliberation.
