Parliament postpones weekly meeting following MPs lack of punctuality and attendance

Lawmakers did not show up on time for work yesterday, leading to the postponement of the session to next week as well as delaying discussions and voting on a number of important legislation.

More than 30 minutes after the scheduled time to begin the session, the Council’s Speaker Ahmed Al Mulla announced that the meeting has been postponed to next Tuesday due to lack of quorum.

At least 21 MPs must be present to begin the session, as per the bylaws of the council.

Al Mulla told the attending lawmakers that his decision comes in accordance with Article 49 of the council’s internal regulations, which instructs to postpone the commencement of the session for half an hour until the quorum is met, before postponing the session to the next week.

The absence of MPs from the sessions has become a regular scene in recent months, as some of them attend the sessions late, while others walk out almost three hours after the session begins, by the time the session is temporarily suspended for the midday prayers break.

The General Secretary elaborated, “Each MP who is absent without an acceptable excuse will be deprived of BD 113 allowance that’s paid for their attendance. This amount has been set in accordance with certain standards and criteria”