Political disagreements abort Parliament's efforts to question the Minister of Finance and other off

[size=52]Political disagreements abort Parliament's efforts to question the Minister of Finance and other officials[/size]

[size=45]All roads were closed to the political blocs that adopted the questioning of the Minister of Finance, and they became convinced that they were unable to achieve a quorum for any session set by the Presidency to hold the minister accountable, after the majority of parliament members refused to attend this interrogation, considering that the remaining period for holding early parliamentary elections is less than four Months.[/size]
[size=45]Muhammad Al-Baldawi, a representative of the Al-Fateh parliamentary bloc, said in a statement to (Al-Mada) that the file of questioning ministers and government officials collides with the absence of representatives and the lack of a quorum for the sessions of the House of Representatives, adding that one of the reasons for delaying the appointments of ministers’ accountability is the absence of political will in questioning and adding executive officials at the time Present.[/size]
[size=45]The Presidency of the House of Representatives set, on May 31, the date for the questioning of Finance Minister Ali Abdel Amir Allawi, after a request submitted by Representative Yousef Al-Kalabi, but the Minister of Finance did not attend the session.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Baldawi continues that “there are political blocs that stand against the questioning of the Minister of Finance for certain interests, and thus impede achieving a quorum, and this is what prompts the Presidency of the House of Representatives to convert the session into deliberative or postpone it to another date,” noting that these parties rejecting the interrogation process are diverse and of all components.[/size]
[size=45]The Special Committee completed the audit of the files of the interrogation of the Minister of Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank, and before that the head of the Media and Communications Commission, whose dismissal was voted on, as well as the file of the interrogation of the Ministers of Trade, Oil and Agriculture.[/size]
[size=45]The House of Representatives Law No. (13) of 2018 in force in Article (22) obligated the formation of a special committee to provide opinion and advice on the extent to which the required conditions are met in the request for interrogation in accordance with the rules of procedure of the House of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]The internal system of the House of Representatives, in its fifty-eighth article, also requires that a request for interrogation be directed in writing to the Speaker of the House, signed by the person submitting the interrogation, with the approval of at least twenty-five members. Representative Al-Baldawi believes that “it is necessary for the House of Representatives to continue its work in completing the legislation that it plans to pass during the current legislative term, and to fulfill its oversight tasks.” On April 15, Finance Minister Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi proposed applying the tax deduction from the salaries of employees starting from this April and with a retroactive effect for the past three months, according to a leaked document circulated by local media.[/size]
[size=45]Last January, a report prepared by (Al-Mada) revealed that “there are four new interrogation requests that have fulfilled the formal and legal requirements, after the completion of the audit of their files (evidence, questions and indictments) by the committee charged with examining the interrogations.”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Abdul Rahman al-Mashhadani, an economic expert, told Al-Mada that an interrogation of the Minister of Finance or other ministers would not take place, considering that the talk about questioning these ministers falls within electoral propaganda purposes to gather the largest number of votes.[/size]
[size=45]The Presidency of the House of Representatives postponed the questioning of Finance Minister Ali Abdel Amir Allawi on its scheduled date at the end of last May to future sessions, after he refused to attend the session in the hope that Parliament would raise the issue of the minister’s absence to set another date, otherwise he will be questioned in absentia.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mashhadani adds that “the time period is not sufficient before the House of Representatives to dismiss and replace ministers in Al-Kazemi’s government, especially since the remaining period for holding the elections does not exceed four months,” stressing that this period is not sufficient to change a minister and install another minister.[/size]
[size=45]He points out that "there are political balances that do not allow opening the file of interrogations in these circumstances, because the interrogation of any minister affiliated with a certain political party will push it to interrogate a minister from another political party," stressing that "the interrogation file did not obtain political consensus."[/size]
[size=45]In a televised interview with a number of local channels broadcast last week, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi expressed his intention to make changes in his cabinet as soon as possible, adding, "We have committed to many of the paragraphs of our government program."[/size]
[size=45]Some media outlets had circulated news stating that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi’s intention to dismiss 8 ministers (Finance, Agriculture, Industry, Oil, Electricity, Higher Education and Education…), and indicated his approach to the Al-Fateh Alliance as the largest parliamentary bloc for the purpose of the ministerial reshuffle.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mashhadani adds that “the issue of replacing seven to eight ministers was raised in the media about seven months ago, but this issue is just talk that did not reach the application,” stressing that “the interrogation file is also over and has become crippled and has not been achieved in light of this existing equation.”[/size]
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