THE Bills and Legislation Committee (BLC) recommends that the Telecommunications (Amendment) Bill 2021 should be withdrawn by the government.
Bills and Legislation Committee Chairman and Member of Parliament for West Are’are John Maneniaru told Solomon Star, Thursday.
This came after the BLC the Ministry for Communications and Aviation (MCA) Deputy Secretary and Director with the legal drafts officers from the Attorney General’s (AG) Chamber appeared before the Committee on Tuesday this week.
Maneniaru said the hearing had to be adjourned in order for MCA to go back and work on the amendments recommended by BLC.
“In fact BLC have to request the ministry and the government to withdraw the bill because it carries a lot of omission which needs to be revisited.
“Even the responsible ministry and the AG’s legal drafts officers agreed that this bill needs more time to be properly designed to fit well with the government policies,” he added.
He further added that during the hearing on Tuesday they managed to scrutinise the bill clause by clause which guaranteed them to make the recommendations to withdraw the bill.
Maneniaru said that one good example is the bill as it is now is for the new SIM-card registration and there’s nowhere in the bill that includes the old SIM-card users.
“This is just one example but there are many errors detected in the bill as the Committee thoroughly went through with the ministry and the AG’s legal draft officers,” he added.
But Maneniaru said that depends on the Cabinet decision if they want them to withdraw it. He confirmed that the Cabinet also met yesterday to discuss the matter according to the BLC’s recommendation.
The process is since the Government Bills introduced in Parliament are often sanctioned by the Cabinet.
Therefore, it maybe that the decision to withdraw the Bill may have come through that process again, Cabinet may have to sanction its withdrawal as well.
It was also understood that concerning the procedure for withdrawing a Bill in Parliament if the Bill has not been read the first time yet the Minister in charge of the Bill can communicate his or her intention to the Clerk to withdraw the bill.
The Solomon Star is aware that the Bill is now going through the legislative process because it (Bill) was already in its first reading in the Parliament which can be a House matter.
The Minister for Communications and Aviation should withdraw the Bill on the floor of the parliament.
Maneniaru told this paper that BLC will be waiting for the Cabinet’s decision but out recommendation is for the Bill to be withdrawn.
Meanwhile, the objective of the Bill is to amend Telecommunications Act 2009 to ensure that all SIM-cards are registered.
By ANDREW FANASIA
Newsroom, Honiara
