THE Government says parliament was adjourned on Friday because the required reports from the Bills and Legislations Committee (BLC) have not been completed.
“The completion of these reports by the BLC is required for the next steps in the parliamentary process,” a statement the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet issued, said.
“As such, the non-completion of these reports has prohibited the Government to proceed with Government business yesterday,” the statement said.
The clarification comes following mixed reactions from the public.
The statement said as much as the Government would like to proceed with Government business in Parliament, it cannot do so because the BLC is yet to produce the required reports.
“Bills like the Anti-Corruption and Dual Citizenship proposed legislations have already been sent to Parliament in 2017.
“In fact, the Government expects the BLC to look through them in the past few months but they haven’t done so,” it said.
The statement also explained that according to the principle of Separation of Powers safeguarding the three arms of Government; the Executive cannot dictate the affairs of the Legislature as such the Executive must wait for the these processes to be completed.
“The BLC must carry out their duties with responsibility.
“The Government has done its part, it is up to the BLC to discharge their duties and the Government would like the BLC to take responsibility to allow Parliament to deliberate on these important Bills and reports as soon as possible,” the statement said.
