MPs want the budget numbers breakdown
A number of MPs believe that the executive office of the parliament carries the responsibility for not presenting the current budget or announcing last year’s final accounts. Deputy Abdul Karim Shiban called for members to strike in front of the gates of the parliament for this violation.
Shiban told NewsYemen that the budget arrived late to the finance committee. It prepared a report on it and delivered it to the presidential division. He confirmed that the division did not submit anything to the parliament except for a final number. He added that the MPs position is due to lack of balance in the chamber and the marginalization of the role of parliament. He further stated that by holding parliamentary session with only thirty members it is unable to present anything.
Zakaria Al-Zakari of the finance committee confirmed that the budget was not presented before the assembly and thus discussion of it was refused following ratification of the state budget for FY2006. He justified the committee’s response by saying that the study of the budget will be scientific. Ahmed Al-Zahiri criticized the presidential division for taking unilateral decisions without resorting to the chamber.
Al-Zahiri stated that the decision is the decision of the parliament and suggested that the budget and the final accounts be presented next week. This proposal received approval.
In other news, deputy Mohammed Muqbil Al-Hamiri directed a question to the minister of planning and international cooperation (Abdul Karim Al-Arhabi) concerning the distribution of projects around the different areas of the republic. He believed that there was some level of arbitrariness in it. He also stated that the Social Bank for Development had a similar mechanism for distributing projects that was much more fair despite it being connected to the same ministry.
