‘Government, Legislature effective partners’

The government welcomes the implementation of all initiatives and projects that benefit the citizens and contribute to providing the means of decent living for them, Information and Parliament Affairs Minister Isa bin Abdulrahman Al Hammadi has said, highlighting the numerous resolutions and programmes to increase salaries, implemented by the government at a time when the needed funds were available, including the resolution of 2011 on adjusting salaries.

“The government considers the Legislative branch as an effective partner, and believes that its initiatives and resolutions emanate from its patriotic responsibilities,” he said, calling for the need to take into consideration the ability to meet the financial obligations resulting from any draft legislation and make sure that the funds required for its implementation are available.

The minister made the statements as he participated in the Shura Council’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee meeting during which a draft law on pay rise in the public sector, proposed by the Council of Representatives, was discussed.

“The government has clarified its view on the draft law, and dealt with it like other draft laws,” he said.

The draft law is not based on a thorough economic and financial study, nor does it refer to the side-effects of its implementation, Al Hammadi told the committee, explaining that the draft law does not take into account the potential effects on pension funds, does not refer to the bases on which the rise would be determined and does not pay attention to the Kingdom’s ability to honour the fiscal obligations that would result from the pay rise. The draft law goes back to 2008, and over the years that followed that date, many decisions and resolutions had been taken, and achieved the goals set by the draft law in question, he added.

The minister called for the need to keep away from emotions and deal with matters professionally and objectively while raising issues that are related to the interests of the nation and the citizens under the roof of the National Assembly. Al Hammadi stressed that Article (109) of the Constitution stipulated that any amendment to the state budget shall be with the agreement of the Government, noting that the government was committed to the budget approved by the Legislature, and any additional expenditure clauses would require discussions with the Legislative Branch on ways to provide the funds needed.