Haveeru News Article 3 April 2005
http://www.haveeru.com.mv/?page=details&cat=urwbwK&id=24347

Quick Translation

Special Majlis Decides on Procedure to Follow on Amendment Proposals for Each Article
* Members deliberated on expediting Majlis Rules

3 April 2005
Ismail Naseer

In coming to a ruling regarding the Rules of Procedure of the Special Majlis, in today’s sitting Members settled on the procedure to follow when amendments are proposed on a given article.

In today’s sitting Members passed a proposal put forward last Sunday by Haa Alif Atoll Member Ahmed Sameer and seconded by Raa Atoll Member Shaheen Hameed. However the proposal was passed with three additional amendments.

The five-point proposal put forward by Ahmed Sameer that was passed today stated that after the Secretariat pronounced to the Majlis one by one, the articles drafted by the Rules Committee, the given article shall be opened for a debate and when the debate time is complete, those amendments proposed and seconded during the debate shall be asked for a vote in the chorological order by which the amendments were proposed and seconded.

And while voting in the order by which the amendments were proposed, if the first amendment proposal was passed, the amendment shall be duly passed and consequently the given article shall be asked for a vote with the approved amendment and if it was passed the given article shall be duly passed with the amendment.

If the first amendment proposal was not passed the successive amendment proposals shall be asked for vote in chorological order and if none of the proposed amendments were passed a vote shall be requested on the given article as cited in the original draft put together by the Rules Committee.

The proposal also stated that each Member was entitled to vote for one amendment and also entitled to vote on the given article as originally drafted by the Rules Committee. And if none of the amendments nor the original article drafted by the Rules Committee were passed, having debated about the given article in the Majlis, it shall be sent to the Rules Committee for redrafting.

This proposal was passed with 67 Members voting for it, out of the 79 present in the sitting at the time. Eleven members did not vote for the proposal.

In the sitting that had five issues in the agenda, the next issue was determining a deadline to pass the Special Majlis Rules of Procedure by the Majlis.

All members who spoke on the subject said that it was urgently desired to finish off the Majlis Rules and only then can they actually head towards the real task.

Some members spoke about the proposal initiated by Haa Daal Member Ahmed Adil about concluding the work on the Rules within 45 days. However he withdrew his proposal after other proposal were put forward regarding the issue. Since the draft Rules of the Special Majlis incorporated 65 articles various members suggested diverse timeframes to finalise it. And some members said [adequate] time was needed to finish it.

Addu Atoll Member Ibrahim Shareef said that it would be difficult to finish the Rules within a 45 days deadline but he suggested finishing it in 8 sittings instead. In seconding this proposal Thaa Atoll Member Dr Hussein Rasheed said the sittings should take place in close succession as possible.

Laam Atoll Member Rico Moosa Manik proposed 15 days to accomplish the task. Cabinet Minister Dr Hassan Saeed proposed to accomplish work on the Rules in two weeks and said that it was important to decide upon a deadline for the task and proposed to finish work on the Rules before the 17th of this month.

Some members alluding to these proposals pointed out that the timeframes suggested gave very little time for members to deliberate about the articles. Speaking on the subject some members calculated the time that would be allocated for an article and time that would be allowed per member to speak about a given article. Haa Alif Member Ahmed Sameer said if the Rules were to be finished in eight sittings, and if a sitting amounted to 3 hours as present, that would give the Majlis 22 minutes to deliberate on an article and that would allow a member only about 5 seconds speaking time. And when speaking about allocating speaking time on members, if it was to be 3 minutes, that would only allow 7 members to speak about a given article.

Thaa Atoll Member Hassan Afeef proposed finishing the matter in minimum 8 sittings to be held within a 45 day timeframe. However Haa Alif Member Ahmed Muizzu said although he supported allocating a timeframe for the task, since the issue was a new concept not experienced previously, adequate time was needed for deliberations.

President’s Member Fathin Hameed suggested whilst a timeframe was being decided, she was proposing to go ahead deliberating with the articles on the draft Rules in order to expedite the process.

Laam Atoll Member Rico Moosa Manik said it was more important to decide upon the time allowed for members to deliberate about the articles and therefore establishing a timeframe for the Rules could be postponed. Laam Atoll Member Ilyas Ibrahim seconded Manik’s proposal.

Ten minutes before the sitting concluded Cabinet Minister Dr Mahmood Shauqee proposed to continue the sitting until a decision was reached on the second issue deliberated in the sitting today [allocating timeframe to pass Majlis Rules]. However, prior to Shauqee’s proposal, because Gaaf Alif Member Adnan Haleem’s suggestion of continuing the sitting until the first four provisions of today’s agenda were deliberated had been seconded, the Chair called for a vote on the proposal. Out of 82 present at the sitting at the time 19 voted for the proposal and 62 did not.

The Chair then asked for a vote on Dr Mahmood Shauqee’s proposal – that had been seconded – on continuing the sitting until a decision was reached on allocating a timeframe for Majlis Rules. Forty-six members supported the proposal, 35 members did not. The sitting was concluded upon the termination of allocated time, with Shauqee’s proposal having failed to win a majority according to Majlis procedure.

Next sitting of Special Majlis will be held on Tuesday.

Ends