His Majesty approves extraordinary sitting

28 August 2009

Today, His Majesty the King granted a Kasho commanding the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Council to convene an extraordinary sitting of parliament. While it had been widely known that parliamentarians expected and additional joint sitting of the Civil Service and Local Government Bills, the kasho and royal messages attached to the kasho have highlighted the need to look beyond specific disputed Bills towards building the foundation for healthy debate and consensus building, in the interest of the nation.

The kasho to the Speaker and Chairman states:

“The Speaker has sought an extraordinary sitting for the deliberation of the Civil Service Bill 2009 and the Local Government (Amendment) Bill. These Bills could not be passed during joint sitting of the 3rd session of Parliament.

The constitution has a clear process for passing of bills under article 13 and under article 34.2(a). It would therefore not be correct or desirable to view extraordinary sitting as a normal extension of the process for passing of bills. It would distort the constitutional process, A joint sitting on a bill, as stipulated in the constitution serves to bring together different views, different political parties and houses parliament when there are disputes on a Bill. Under such a setting, keeping national interest above all else, it is assumes that as much consensus as possible will be formed on a bill allowing for it to have the best chance to be passed during the final vote. If a Bill cannot be passed in a joint Sitting, it signifies that there are serious differences that must be addressed through means other than another joint sitting.

Therefore, while the Speaker and the Chairman shall convene an extraordinary sitting, it must be reiterated that it cannot be construed as a second joint sitting on the two disputed dills.

First, it is far more important to look beyond the two bills in order to ascertain the causes of such deadlock and how in future they might be prevented or minimized. This parliament has the responsibility of setting the right precedents, laying a strong foundation and promoting the best practices of democracy, in the interest of our people and country.

Second, the failure to pass the Local Government (Amendment) Act has not only delayed greatly the election to local government officials, but has seriously hampered the efficient implementation of the 10th plan. Therefore, given that disputes on the bill are only on a few specific clauses, the joint committee of the two houses should seek to find a consensus position on the disputed clauses acceptable to their respective houses, to enable to extraordinary sitting to vote on the bill in such consensus form.

Third, the disagreement on the civil service bill are not on individual clauses but on principle, and are not confined within parliament. Therefore, its urgent passage during this extraordinary sitting will not guarantee that its implementation will be smooth, effective and above all beneficial to our People and country. The bill will benefit from further consultations among stakeholders. The draft based on these consultations may then be tabled in future through parliamentary process, as mandated by the constitution and relevant laws in force.

In elaboration upon all these issues, I send attached to this kasho, a message to both houses of parliament as per the prerogative provided for in the constitution.”

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