*** Withdrawal of Bahrain MPs from panel raises eyebrows | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Withdrawal of Bahrain MPs from panel raises eyebrows

ManamaMystery looms over the sudden withdrawal of three MPs from a parliamentary committee recently.

MPs Jalal Kadhim, Ghazi Al Rahma and Ibrahim Al Hammad surprisingly withdrew from the Youth and Sports Affairs Permanent Quarterly Committee in the House of Representatives.

The trio switched places in heading the committee and remained as members in the past three years, until MP Ali Bufarsen was elected as chairman last month.

article-image

Kadhim refused to comment on the decision to withdraw from the committee and told DT News in a conversation over the telephone yesterday that “everything will be revealed in the weekly session of the house tomorrow (Tuesday)”.Bufarsen told DT News that he couldn’t justify the actions of his fellow MPs as he is “not an official spokesperson for them”.

article-image

“Their efforts in the past few years are appreciated. There are other MPs who applied for filling the withdrawn MPs’ places in the committee. MPs Ali Al Muqla and Osama Al Khaja requested to join the committee,” Bufarsen informed. However, he refused to comment on the rumours spreading on social media, claiming that the three MPs had a dispute with Bufarsen.

article-image

The committee is now left with Bufarsen as head and MP Mohsen Al Bakri as a member. The committee was headed by Kadhim, Al Rahma and Al Hammadi in the first three years of the ongoing legislative term. Anyhow, the reasons behind the sudden withdrawal remain unclear. 

article-image

According to the House of Representatives’ website, “The committee is specialised in looking into all subjects related to youth and sports affairs and gives great importance to supporting youth and sports issues in the Kingdom.”