Monthly Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga October-September Monthly Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Activities of Wolesi Jirga Plenary Sessions 4 2. The Most Positive Development 5 3. Issues of the Month 6 Lefgislative Documents 6 Disagreement of Some MPs on the Amendment of the Media Law 6 Wolesi Jirga Reviews the Draft-Law on Provincial Councils 7 Lack of Coordination among Related Entities in Codifying the Draft Law on Tobacco 9 Economical Issues 10 Reconstruction of the Devastated Regions of Surobi District of Kabul Province Started 10 Lack of Control over the Travel Agencies has Caused an Increase in the Price of Tickets 11 Security Issues 12 New Security Plan for Maintaining Security of Highways 12 Wolesi Jirga questioned Ministers of Interior Affairs and National Defense 13 Increase of Security threats to MPs 14 Reviewing People Problems 15 Reviewing Provincial Reports in the Plenary Sessions 15 Dissatisfaction of citizens from the acquisition process of their lands 16 Education and Sports 17 Wolesi Jirga Appreciated Championship of National Football Team 17 The Allocated Money for the Football Federation shouldn’t be paid from the Budget of Olympic Committee 20 Oversight the Performance of Government 20 The Independent Election Commission announced it s Readiness to Conduct the Upcoming Presidential and Provincial Council elections 20 Questioning Minister of Mines to present information on incident of Samangan mine 22 Wolesi Jirga Disclosed Names of Land Usurpers 23 Vote of Confidence of Wolesi Jirga to the Government Officials 24 The Finance and Budget Committee is reviewing the 2012 Qatia report 26 4. Parliamentary Hearing: 27 5. Parliementary Questioning: 28 .6 Legislative Report 29 Accountability Session of MPs to People of Kondoz 30 Acountability Session of MPs to the People of Herat Province 36 7. Five Question with two MPs 41 8. About FEFA: 44 2 | Monthly Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga Monitoring of the work of the Parliament for the purpose of informing citizens and promoting cooperation between the parliament and civil society is an effort that FEFA believes contributes to the development of the political system of Afghanistan and strengthens the highest representative institution of the country, the Parliament. To this end, FEFA has started a program to observe the work of the Wolesi Jirga and provide reporting and analysis that would help this institution to expand and FIGURE 1FEFA'S EMPLOYEES advance its work. Collecting information on the work of the Parliament and disseminating it to the people and electorate of Afghanistan will promote this institution and has the potential to build closer links between the elected and the electorate. FEFA will remain impartial and neutral throughout its work, in particular in its observation and reporting, and will adopt a code of conduct for its observers and analysts, as well as with full preparation to successfully implement this initiative in conjunction with Wolesi Jirga. 3 | Monthly Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga 1. Activities of Wolesi Jirga’s Plenary Sessions Plenary sessions are the general meetings where all the representatives of the people in Wolesi Jirga discuss issues and approve laws to improve the life of citizens and build the legal framework of Afghanistan.FEFA has monitored these sessions and the table below will present the number of meetings held and the level of participation of MPs in the plenary sessions. September Plenary Sessions Number of General Women Sessions Participation Participation Regular 7 58 % 45 % Questioning 2 40% 41% Vote of Confidence 1 50% 66% Total 10 Parliamentary Monitoring Number of Rate of Participation Sessions The Committee on Legislation Affairs 2 The Committee on Women Affairs, Civil Society 5 60% The Committee on Hearing Complaints and Petitions 6 52% The Telecommunication Committee 2 56 % The Committee on Sports, Health, Youth and Workers 2 30 % The Finance, Budget, Public Accounting and Baking Affairs 1 23% Committee Total 18 4 | Monthly Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga October Plenary Sessions Number of General Women Sessions Participation Participation Regular 4 37 % 40 % Questioning 1 31% 33% Hearing 2 41% 52% Vote of Confidence 1 38% 55% Total 8 Parliamentary Monitoring Number of Rate of Participation Sessions The Committee on Legislation Affairs 4 The Committee on Women Affairs, Civil Society 4 55% The Committee on Hearing Complaints and Petitions 3 47% The Telecommunication Committee 3 56 % The Committee on Sports, Health, Youth and Workers 1 13 % The Finance, Budget, Public Accounting and Baking Affairs 4 60% Committee Total 19 2. The Most Positive Development After summer recess reviewing people problems was in top agenda of Wolesi Jirga. During the summer recess MPs went to their provinces to visit people and note the problems. After the summer recess overed MPs present their reports to the plenary session of Wolesi Jirga and administrative board of Wolesi Jirga promised to share the problems with the related government institutions. Appreciating the national football team can decelop sport in the country and encourage athlets for more efforts. Summoning the related government officials to present information about reconstruction of devastated regions of Surubi district of Kabul, questioning executive officials to review the reason that 5 | Monthly Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga why the price of airplane ticket is increased, reviewing the reasons of insecurity in highways and reviewing the mines problems are considered other positive developments of the month. 3. Issues of the Month Lefgislative Documents Disagreement of Some MPs on the Amendment of the Media Law Some MPs and CSOs disagreed with the approving of suggested amendments of Ministry of Information and Culture on Media Law. Wolesi Jirga conducted a session on August 28, 2013 chaired by Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi speaker of the house where 126 MPs (126 out of 249MPs) attended to discuss and approve three amended articles of media law (articles 42, 43 and 44). The National Assembly of Afghanistan approved the media law in 2009. According to the media law, the Media Commission1 is responsible for handling the media violations. The recent amendments made by Ministry of Information and Culture in article 44 of this law says beside the Media Commission the Media Complaints Commission chair by Minister of Information and Culture have competency to handle the media violations. Mohammad Ali Akhlaqy the deputy of the Commission on Religious Affairs, Cultural, Education and Higher Education of Wolesi Jirga presented the amended articles of the law and the administrative board of Wolesi Jirga put it in a vote that as a result MPs approved it with 117 votes pro and 9 votes against. The deputy of Cultural Commission of Wolesi Jirga said, if Minister of Information and Culture be chair of the Media Complaints Commission then the commission is accountable to Wolesi Jirga and representatives of people can oversight the activities of this commission. Subsequently, a number of MPs said Minister of Information and Culture should not be chair of the Media Complaints Commissions. They added if Minister of Informaiton and Culture be chair of the Media Complaints Commission it paves the ground for government to rule the commission and set more 1 According to the Law on Media, the Media Commission is composed of 7 members who are elected among professional people. A responisblity of Media Commission is handling the media complaints. 6 | Monthly Monitoring Report of Wolesi Jirga limitations on independent media. It is worth mentioning that Minister of Information and Culture had also complained on unlimited competencies of Media Commissions. An MP of Kabul (Ramazan Bashardost) said “head of the Media Complaints Commision must be elected among its members”. He added selection of Minister of Information and Culture as head of the Media Complaints Commission is not fair and will have negative impacts on performance of commission. Another MP (Naqibullah Fayeq) also disagreed with the legislature and said if Minister of Information and Culture is selected as head of the commission the commission will be changed to a government commission and will set limitations on independent media. The amendments faced criticisms of CSOs too. NAI, a proponent of independent media in Afghanistan held a press conference on August 29, 2013 and criticized on recent decision of Wolesi Jirga and urged them to revise their decision. According to the remarks of Mujib Khelwatgar (executive director of NAI) there are a lot of cases and complaints on independent Media that are not dependent to prominent or political figures. He added if government influence in Media Complaints Commission then limitations on independent media will increase. He said, according to Media Law approved in 2009 the Media Complaints Commission must be established soon to take the responsibilities of handling the media violations. Wolesi Jirga Reviews the Draft-Law on Provincial Councils According to the constitution of Afghanistan, administration of the country is divided into two parts central and local. Ministries are considered units of the central administration and provinces are considered administration of local units. Provincial councils are composed of representatives of a province therefore they are considered a part of local structure. Taking part in implementation of development programs and giving consultations to the local executive bodies are main duties of provincial councils.