News From Parliaments Around the Globe -- February 21, 2007

Nepal's Interim Parliament Asks Govt. To Take Action Against King

February 21, 2007 12:28 p.m. EST

Ghanashyam Ojha - All Headline News South Asia Correspondent

Kathmandu, Nepal (AHN) - Nepal's Interim Parliament on Wednesday strongly condemned the king's controversial statement, and urged the government to immediately take action against him and report it to the Interim Legislature.

The "Proposal of Public Importance," which was unanimously passed after deliberations from lawmakers of all political parties, said the king's February 19 statement was unconstitutional, unauthorized and undemocratic.

"The Interim Parliament urges the government to immediately take action in this regard and report it to the parliament," the proposal, tabled by Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Ram Chandra Poudel, said.

The lawmakers from all of Nepal's political parties participated in the discussion over the proposal, strongly demanded the sovereign interim parliament immediately declare republic and eliminate monarchy.

Poudel, while presenting the proposal, said democracy and monarchy are always antithetical.

"Monarchy always believes in violence and conspiracy, and it has developed them as its culture to remain in power," he said.

He also said the Interim Parliament wants an action against King Gyanendra for his unconstitutional and undemocratic remarks.

"The government must dare to take action against the king and let the interim parliament know about the kind of the action it will take," he said.

He said the monarchy is the root of political instability, economic backwardness and the division among all ethnic groups in the country.

"The monarchy should be uprooted to take the country to the path of progress," he said, adding that the government must immediately seize all other facilities provided to the monarch.

Eleven lawmakers representing nine political parties, including NC, NC (Democratic), Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Rastriya Janashakti Party, Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi) and others, backed the proposal.

Bharat Mohan Adhikari, a UML lawmaker, while seconding the proposal, said the interim parliament shouldn't delay in declaring republic.

"The king's recent statement is part of a conspiracy to disrupt the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls, scheduled for mid June," he said, adding, "The Interim Parliament must declare republic to ascertain the guarantee of the CA polls."

He also said the Prime Minister should speak out to the public regarding the kind of action the government would take against the monarch.

Tek Bahadur Chokhyal, a NC (Democratic) lawmaker who also seconded the proposal, demanded the Interim Parliament immediately declare republic as a punishment to the king for his undemocratic and unconstitutional remarks.

"The king underestimated the parties, people and the parliament. So he must be punished," lawmaker Chokhyal said. "If government failed to take action against the king, the interim parliament should propose a vote of no-confidence to the government."

Maoist lawmaker Dev Gurung, who also seconded the proposal, said the political parties should not delay in declaring republic.

"Although the constitution has stated that the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly elections will decide the fate of the monarchy, we shouldn't wait till the CA polls and immediately eliminate monarchy," he said.

Bharat Bimal Yadav of Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi), Nanda Kishor Prasai of United Left Front, Govinda Bikram Shah of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Renu Yadav of Rastriya Janashakti Party and dozens of other lawmakers strongly condemned the king's remarks and held it as a conspiracy against democracy.

In his statement, issued on the occasion of Democracy Day on February 19, the king had defended his February 1, 2005 military coup. His statement said he took over power because the political parties failed to hold elections in time and could not provide security to the people.




Teargas canisters found in Parliament

By Ayub Savula

There was a security scare at Parliament Buildings on Thursday after six teargas canisters were found in the pigeonhole of an immediate former East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) MP.

Security was immediately beefed up in and around the precincts of the august House.

Parliament is presumed to be the second safest institution in the country after State House.

However, the ex-MP in whose pigeonhole the canisters were found, told The Standard last night that he stopped using the pigeonhole when his term at Eala expired last year.

He said he was busy upcountry attending to private matters. The Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Samuel Ndindiri later issued a press statement saying the matter was under investigation and that there was no cause for worry.

Crucial committee meetings were going on at Parliament Buildings at the time when the canisters were recovered.

The Public Investment Committee, which was being chaired by Siakago MP, Mr Justin Muturi, was in session. Cabinet Ministers Amos Kimunya and Kipruto arap Kirwa were expected at the committee meeting when the canisters were found. The two ministers, however, did not turn up.





Preacher kills MP over veil

* Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent
* February 22, 2007

PAKISTAN'S battle with Islamic extremism intensified yesterday when a fanatical religious preacher shot a woman cabinet minister for not wearing a Muslim veil at a public meeting she was about to address.
Zilla Huma Usman, Punjab's Minister for Social Welfare and a strong campaigner for women's rights, died on her way to hospital. The 36-year-old had previously invoked fundamentalist wrath for organising a marathon in which women were allowed to compete.

Ms Usman was shot in the face from less than two metres away as she was being showered with rose petals by supporters on arrival at a public meeting at the ruling Pakistan Muslim League's building in Gujranwala, 70km north of Lahore.

Her bearded attacker, Mohammad Sarwar, called out: "Why aren't you in Islamic dress?" and calmly shot her in the left side of her face with a pistol before he was wrestled to the ground.

Ms Usman, a mother of two sons and a widely respected politician who was a strong supporter of President Pervez Musharraf, was wearing a traditional Pakistani shalwar kameez, that consists of a tunic and baggy pants, which would have been acceptable to the maulvi (religious cleric).

But her sin in his eyes was not wearing the traditional veil - the so-called dupatta that Pakistani women use to cover their heads and which religious extremists insist they must never be without. Sarwar, a stone mason in his mid-40s, was calm when he appeared later on Pakistani television, telling an interviewer that he had carried out God's demand that women who sinned should be killed.

"I have no regrets. I just obeyed Allah's commandment," he said, adding that Islam did not allow women to hold positions of leadership.

"I will kill all those women who do not follow the right path if I am freed again," he declared.

Sarwar, a father of nine, gained nationwide prominence as an alleged serial killer in 2003 charged with shooting dead three prostitutes and wounding six others in late-night attacks targeted at "debauchery".

Reports yesterday said he had been "surprisingly acquitted in all these cases ... as most of the families of the victims received attractive money or did not appear in court".

Ms Usman, a lawyer who was the wife of a doctor, was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly four years ago and was a strong supporter of women's rights and General Musharraf's so-called policy of "enlightened moderation", designed to deal with religious extremism.

Last night, Pakistani leaders from General Musharraf down expressed outrage over her killing, the country's minister for social welfare describing her death as "an unbearable loss to the cause of women's rights and their empowerment".




EU Parliament condemns Polish lawmaker's brochure, labeled anti-Semitic by Jewish organizations
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Associated Press
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BRUSSELS, Belgium--The European Parliament has condemned the publication by a Polish extreme-right deputy of a brochure that Jewish organizations have labeled as being anti-Semitic.
The 32-page booklet, published by independent EU lawmaker Maciej Marian Giertych, describes the Jewish people as a "tragic community" preferring to live a separate life "in apartheid from the surrounding communities."
The booklet, available online on Giertych's personal Web site, is a treatise on the differences between the Latin, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab civilizations. It classifies them according to race, language, religion and other criteria.
The European Jewish Congress said the text is anti-Semitic and threatened to bring Giertych to court. It asked the Polish government to strip the lawmaker of his parliamentary immunity so he can be sued.
European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering said he was "greatly disturbed" by the brochure, titled Civilizations at War in Europe, which bears the logo of the European Parliament. He said the EU assembly did not help finance the booklet.
A spokesman for Poettering said Tuesday the European Parliament could review how the legislature's logo is being used to prevent deputies from associating their private views with the assembly.
Other Polish lawmakers said they found the brochure shocking and harmful to the image of Poland.
"This is in an absolute contradiction with a democratic Poland, open to multicultural cooperation," Polish members of the Liberal Democratic group said in a statement.
Giertych, who is a member of the ultraconservative League of Polish Families and father of Poland's Education Minister Roman Giertych, was not immediately available for comment.
Last year, Giertych praised the regimes of late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar, triggering an angry reaction from fellow parliamentarians.
German Socialist leader Martin Schulz called his speech "fascist."




Afghan parliament seeks war-crime amnesty

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghanistan's upper house of parliament has passed a resolution calling for an amnesty for Afghans accused of war crimes during a quarter-century of fighting, an official said.

President Hamid Karzai must now decide whether it should be made into a law, Kadamali Nekpai, chief of the upper house's press department, said Tuesday.

The lower house passed the resolution, which the U.N. and rights activists have condemned, on January 31. It covers the mujahedeen leaders who fronted the anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s and plunged the country into civil war in the early 1990s. Many of them sit in parliament.

Senators approved the same resolution on Tuesday by a 50-16 majority, Nekpai said.

Although lawmakers describe it as a resolution rather than a bill, they also say it would be made law if Karzai approves it.

Sen. Abdullah Haqahaqi said if Karzai rejected the resolution, it would be voted on again by the lower house and if two-thirds of lawmakers were in favor, it would become law.

None of Karzai's spokesmen could be immediately reached for comment.

The president's chief spokesman has said Karzai will not sign anything that goes against Afghanistan's Constitution and he has asked his lawyers to assess the resolution's legality.

The United Nations and international rights groups have been strongly critical of it. Tens of thousands of Afghans died during the years of civil conflict that followed the Soviet occupation.

"One thing must be very clear, and it should be clear worldwide: amnesty for gross violations of human rights and for war crimes shouldn't exist," Tom Koenigs, the U.N.'s special representative to Afghanistan, told reporters Monday.

A U.S.-backed invasion in late 2001 toppled the hardline Taliban regime and ushered in an era of democracy but also saw a number of powerful warlords elevated to high office or seats in parliament.

"Unfortunately, the majority of the lower and upper houses of parliament are warlords and people with blood on their hands," said Nafas Gul, a woman senator for Farah province who voted against the resolution. "It's a betrayal of the rights of Afghans."

But another senator who voted in favor said it would promote national unity.

"It's a good step because we want the unity in Afghanistan. If they bring leaders of the mujahedeen to court it will tarnish the name of jihad (holy war)," said Bakhtar Aminzai, who represents Paktia province.

The New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch has called for officials including Vice President Karim Khalili and army Chief of Staff Abdul Rashid Dostum to face trial before a special court for alleged war crimes. In a report, it listed Energy Minister Ismail Khan, Karzai senior security adviser Mohammed Qasim Fahim and parliamentarians Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and former President Burhanuddin Rabbani as among the "worst perpetrators."

Others who should be brought to trial include Taliban leader Mullah Omar and fugitive warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the rights group said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.





New Zealand: Police watch Parliament after threats

21/02/2007 16:08:08

Police say threats against Sue Bradford on a controversial website are difficult to act upon as they are anonymous.

The Green MP has been targeted on the name and shame Cyfswatch website, by people upset at her anti-smacking bill, which gets its second reading tonight. The post says Ms Bradford is worthy of being the subject New Zealand's first political assassination. The blog also asks for her residential address.

Diplomatic Protection Squad head Inspector Bruce Blaney says if the comments break the law, police will prosecute. But he says finding the culprits is often impossible. Inspector Blaney will send officers if there is any threat of unrest at the vote in Parliament tonight and keep an eye on Parliament this afternoon.

Ms Bradford is distressed at the threats, saying the smacking debate has obviously turned very nasty. She says the threats are indicative of some of the people who are campaigning against her. Ms Bradford says it is disgraceful a member of Parliament can be treated this way.

A vocal critic of the anti-smacking bill is also condemning the threats to harm the Green MP. Family First spokesman Bob McCoskrie says the smacking debate does not warrant personal threats against people with opposing views. He says he understands the frustration some people are feeling, but says the maturity of a country is shown through its ability to debate issues and find solutions, without resorting to threats.




New Zealand: Field back in Parliament

21/02/2007 13:08:03

The Labour-led Government can no longer rely on the proxy vote of Phillip Field.

Mr Field has arrived back at Parliament after six months gardening leave declaring himself an independent, and saying his vote will not necessarily go to Labour in the future. Mr Field says he will be judging issues on an individual basis, which means his vote is not Labour's for the asking.

That again puts Labour in the position of holding office, but not power. The Greens are once again back in a position of strength and Sue Bradford's anti-smacking bill will be supported by Labour, but not by Mr Field.

The Government will now have to rely on the Greens and the Maori Party for its legislative programme and it means both those parties have a greater chance of enacting their policies.




France inscribes banning of death penalty in constitution

The Associated Press
Monday, February 19, 2007

VERSAILLES, France: Senators and lower house lawmakers inscribed the banning of the death penalty in the French Constitution on Monday, one of three measures put to a solemn vote in a constitutional revision and the one gaining the broadest consensus.

The two houses of parliament gathered for the special session at the Palace of Versailles passed the measure 828-26.

However, a text guaranteeing immunity to a sitting head of state — but introducing the possibility of impeachment — stumbled through the solemn vote to pass 449-203 — just above the 392 votes that make up the needed three-fifths majority.

President Jacques Chirac, who has been targeted in probes of illegal party financing, had promised such a law when he was campaigning for re-election in 2002. The measure makes it possible to open impeachment proceedings for "breach of duty manifestly incompatible with the exercising of (the president's) mandate."

A third text easily passed, 724-90, freezing the electoral corps in New Caledonia, seen as a means of guaranteeing civil peace in the overseas department which has experienced episodes of political unrest.

The constitutional revision was seen as a final act for Chirac before the parliamentary session is suspended Friday ahead of the April-May presidential elections.

However, some lawmakers viewed the session at Versailles — where constitutional revisions are voted — as a waste of time and money. Some deputies, notably Segolene Royal and Francois Bayrou — who are both seeking the presidency — did not show up.

Still, emotions were high as the gathering voted to inscribe the banning of the death penalty in the constitution. The death penalty has been outlawed in France since 1981, but not inscribed in the constitution.

"We are accomplishing the wish of Victor Hugo in 1848, the pure, simple, irreversible abolition" of the death penalty, former Justice Minister Robert Badinter told lawmakers. Badinter was the artisan of the banning of the death penalty in 1981, one of the first acts of the 14-year presidency of Socialist Francois Mitterrand.





South Korea: Activists urge parliament to veto bill on cost sharing to maintain U.S. troops in Korea

SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- Civic leaders and lawmakers on Wednesday urged the parliament to veto a government-initiated bill to increase South Korea's portion of the cost for maintaining U.S. troops here.

The National Assembly is set to review a Seoul-Washington deal reached in December to increase Seoul's share of the cost by 6.6 percent in 2007. Seoul will contribute 725.5 billion won (US$780 million) to maintain about 30,000 U.S. troops this year, up 45.1 billion won from the previous year.

The new budget bill is expected to be submitted to an extraordinary session of the Assembly this month.

"To share the defense costs is a humiliating modern-day tribute to the United States and the legacy of Korea-U.S. relations," Rep. Kwon Young-gil of the Democratic Labor Party said in a press conference at the parliament.

The group of 409 people, including religious leaders, lawyers and activists, as well as 12 lawmakers from Kwon's party, issued a joint statement urging the government to negate the December agreement and negotiate again.

They said the bill is illegal according to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the legal code governing all American troops in the country first signed in 1951 and last revised in 2001, whose Article 5 states that the U.S. take charge of all expenses for maintaining U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

South Korea and the U.S. are set to hold a meeting of top defense officials on Friday.




Uganda's opposition legislators return to parliament after weeks of boycott
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Uganda's opposition legislators on Tuesday returned to the parliament after three weeks of boycott, protesting the continued detention of suspected rebels despite that High Court ordered to release them on bail.

Prof. Ogenga Latigo told the plenary session of the House in a statement that the opposition ended their boycott after their walk- out had registered a success.

"The primary objective of our walk-out was a specific act to express our extreme displeasure at the conduct of the executive that threatened constitutionalism. Our walk-out has fulfilled this objective," Latigo said.

He said the government should desist from repeating mistakes of past governments which did not uphold the rule of law.

About 73 opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) including independents walked out of Parliament on January 30 in protest over the continued detention of suspected rebels of the People's Redemption Army (PRA) despite that High Court ordered to release them on bail.

The PRA suspects are charged with treason alongside the leader of the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change, Kizza Besigye.

Out of 22 suspects, 14 were granted bail by the High Court on November 16, 2005 but were rearrested before leaving court and were detained in Luzira. Some have since been granted amnesty.

During the boycott the legislators visited prisons to assess the conditions there and took on to city streets protesting.

The boycott also temporarily interrupted Parliament's work as the ruling National Resistance Movement legislators were reluctant to approve motions without an input from the opposition.

The Parliament, however, approved a much-anticipated motion by the government last week to send some 1,400 peacekeepers to volatile Somalia in the absence of the opposition MPs.





3 Salvadoran legislators killed in Guatemala in grisly attack

The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador: Officials said the grisly killings of three Salvadoran members of the Central American Parliament were premeditated and may have been politically motivated.

Eduardo D'Aubuisson — whose father purportedly led the death squads in El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war — was killed along with two other lawmakers and a driver, and their charred bodies left on a roadside in Guatemala on Monday, the eve of the 15th anniversary of his father's death.

"It was not by chance," Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said of the killings. "We have various theories, and we are not ruling out the possibility that it was a political crime."

Salvadoran President Tony Saca declined to speculate on a possible motive for the killings, but said the killers had followed the lawmakers car in the capital of Guatemala City and said the crime was "premeditated with brutality, treachery to capture and kidnap them."

The killed parliament members all belonged to El Salvador's ruling party.

Autopsies on Tuesday confirmed that two of the three legislators had been shot in the head. The other two corpses were too badly burned to immediately determine the cause of death.

Police discovered the lawmakers' bodies Monday on a rural road near El Jocotillo, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of Guatemala City, after they failed to show up as expected at their hotel. The deceased driver was not identified.

Berger agreed Tuesday the killings were premeditated and vowed to bring together "all the necessary forces to discover the plot behind this assassination."

The dead legislators were identified as William Pichinte, Ramon Gonzalez and D'Aubuisson. All three represented El Salvador at the Central American Parliament, based in Guatemala City.

The killings occurred on the eve of the anniversary of the Feb. 20, 1992, death of Roberto D'Aubuisson, the leader of the Salvadoran right whom human rights groups accused of helping form death squads responsible for the kidnap, torture and murder of tens of thousands of civilians during El Salvador's civil war. He died of throat cancer.

Speaking at the elder D'Aubuisson's grave at a prescheduled event commemorating his death, Saca said the killings had been planned.

"They burned their bodies several times, they killed them, they riddled their bodies with bullets, they made them suffer in a cowardly manner," Saca told a news conference later. "This was directed by someone who wants to send a message, and if the message is to scare Salvadorans who love liberty, then that person is wrong."

El Salvador's congress decreed a three-day national mourning period for the victims.

"This act was not a simple crime," congress leader Ruben Orellana said. "It was an attack on the constitutional framework of El Salvador and Central America."

Saca said the representatives' vehicle was traveling with a police escort until it reached Guatemala City early Monday. Highway robberies are common in Guatemala, but officials believed the men would be safe in the capital.

Interior Minister Carlos Vielman said the crime was unusual, even in a country known for gang beheadings and kidnappings.

"The fury, the violence with which it was carried out sent a message," he said. "The crime scene was hellish. They burned everything until there was no evidence left."

Police said the men were last seen around midday Monday in the city's hotel zone, but it was unclear exactly when they were kidnapped, taken outside of the city, killed and burned along with their vehicle.

Salvadoran forensic experts and investigators were traveling to Guatemala to help in the case.

The Central American Parliament, which has 132 members representing five nations, was created in 1986 to help integrate Central America politically but does not overrule or replace local legislatures.

___

Associated Press writer Juan Carlos Llorca in Guatemala City contributed to this report.




Salvadoran president condemns killing of three legislators
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Salvadoran President Tony Saca on Tuesday condemned the killing of three Salvadoran members of the Central American Parliament, which occurred in Guatemala.

"This was directed by someone who wants to send a message," said Saca at a ceremony to commemorate one of the victims. "If the message is to scare Salvadorans who love liberty, then that person is wrong," he added.

The bodies of the three lawmakers as well as their driver were discovered by police on Monday on a rural road near El Jocotillo, about 30 km southeast of Guatemala City, according to reports reaching here.

The three legislators left San Salvador Monday morning to attend meetings of the Central American Parliament in Guatemala City, but they did not show up in their hotel after being present at one session of the meeting.

The three parliament members were all members of El Salvador's ruling party, the right-wing Republican Nationalist Alliance.

The Central American Parliament, with headquarters in Guatemala City, was set up in 1986 to promote Central American integration.




Malta Parliament: Debate on carousel fraud, vintage cars and eco-tax
Parliament on Monday continued discussing the bill for the implementation of budget estimates according to the 2007 financial estimates.

In a discussion between Parliamentary Secretary within the Finance Ministry Tonio Fenech and Malta Labour Party deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Charles Mangion which revolved around carousel fraud, vintage cars, eco-tax and defunct financial books which resurrect on the day of appeal, parliament sought to plug various loopholes in sundry tax laws.

One of the amendments passed stipulates that in cases where a registered entity chooses to appeal a judgement requiring it to fork out above Lm500,000 in VAT, interest and administrative penalties, then the appeal shall be held in front of a court presided by three judges, rather than the customary one thus far. Dr Mangion drew the committee’s attention to his opinion that such laws require a certain degree of specialisation by the judiciary, and that the Chief Justice should be aware of what parliament thinks on the matter. Agreeing, Mr Fenech remarked that “it is high time that we have members of the judiciary who are specialised in fiscal and financial law”.

Accountants had better remember where they kept their self-employed clients’ account books, because another amendment passed has made it even harder for registered persons to use their accountants as an excuse. The bill gives the VAT Commissioner further powers to look into ledgers stored electronically, and to clamp down on registered persons under investigation who claim their balance sheets are lost or taken hostage by their accountants, only to produce them as evidence during appeal.

Mr Fenech said that if the books are not produced during the period of assessment, then the courts will be bound not to accept them as evidence on appeal, bar for just causes. Registered people will remain solely responsible for the timely filing of VAT returns and payments and should never let go of their ledgers, added Mr Fenech. If their accountants’ mishandling of business affairs should land them into hot water, then they should sue their accountants to make good for the penalties they would have become liable for.

The VAT Commissioner was also granted the right, by yet another amendment, to demand a guarantee from an individual suspected of engaging in carousel fraud – importing bogus items, popularly computer chips or mobile phones, grabbing the VAT refund cheque and scarpering off abroad without bothering to sell the products and denying government the VAT on sales – before issuing either a VAT number or the refund cheque.

Allaying Dr Mangion’s fears that the VAT department does not have the logistical means to store goods impounded as guarantee, Mr Fenech said that the commissioner will ask for a bank guarantee or a hypothec on immovable property. “Furthermore, if the trader in question nonetheless engages in business before clearance and a VAT number are issued by the department, the trader would be committing a criminal act and the department can institute an action against him,” said Mr Fenech.

By another amendment proposed and passed, the VAT Commissioner no longer needs a judicial act to interrupt a period of prescription, but can do so by sending a ledger statement via registered post. Banks have also been placed under his ever further-reaching arm, as now they are obliged to supply the department with the names and VAT numbers of construction contractors and suppliers who are paid for their work via loans undertaken by the bank’s customers, as well as of the amounts that the beneficiaries have pocketed.

Parliamentary Secretary Fenech confirmed that “the banks are none too pleased that the government is placing the onus on them to supply this information, citing administration costs.” Mr Fenech added that, however, it is about time that the banks, which are profiting so much from the Maltese economy, start giving something back to the same economy by helping fight tax evasion. Dr Mangion applauded the move, and pointed out that in effect, this law is not introducing new burdens on parties engaged in construction, since they have always been expected to issue fiscal receipts for their goods and services.

Mr Fenech pushed through an amendment that specifies that in the case of items on which eco-tax is to be collected, the actual description should prevail over the Harmonised System code, so that if the EU decides to modify the code of a particular commodity without prior warning, that item would still be covered by law, and still be taxable, and the change in HS code would be reflected when parliament updates the relevant schedule.

Not so fast, said Dr Mangion, when the committee came to discuss the legal recognition of vehicles “with four wheels and handlebars”, otherwise known as quad-bikes. Dr Mangion objected to the specification of a “maximum speed of more than 45kph,” asking whether anything that runs marginally slower, even up to 44kph, will be classified as a toy. “God forbid,” he exclaimed, “should we have children of 10 years of age driving such things on our roads!” Mr Fenech claimed that he was not an expert and that to his mind the maximum speed can be brought down. The vote on the amendment was postponed until Mr Fenech confers with the minister responsible.

When it came to vintage cars, the discussion appropriately idled to a more sedate pace and Mr Fenech announced that the two brackets of cars produced before 1970 and 1950, will now include cars manufactured up to 1975 and 1955 respectively, taxes and other details remaining the same. Both sides took time to extol the virtues of the habit of restoring and collecting these past queens of the road, and the committee deferred the discussion of the implementation of budgetary measures to the next session.





India: Muslims to march to Parliament

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: On March 7, representatives of Muslim organisations will march to Parliament demanding the implementation of the recommendations of the Rajinder Sachar Committee report. They will present memorandums to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, M.H. Jawahirullah, president of the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, said, "In light of the Sachar committee report, we demand a constitutional amendment to permit States to fix the ceiling of reservation according to their need and remove the present 50 per cent cap on reservation," Prof. Jawahirullah said.

He demanded a one-time allocation of Rs. 1 lakh crore in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan to build 1,000 educational institutions for Muslims.






Malawi: Parliament queries State House, OPC budgets
by Zainah Liwanda, 21 February 2007 - 05:44:46
Parliament in Lilongwe was yesterday forced to adjourn prematurely to this afternoon barely two days after it resumed sitting because the House could not agree on how to proceed.
The adjournment followed a concern from opposition parties who said they were not given ample time to respond to the mid-term budget review presented on Monday.
According to the order paper, the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament was supposed to respond first, followed by spokespersons of MCP and UDF but Leader of the House Henry Chimunthu Banda said according to Standing Order 218, the procedure should have been vice versa.
Earlier Leader of Opposition John Tembo had asked for time to prepare for a proper response to the budget review but did not indicate when he will be ready.
Speaker of Parliament Louis Chimango, while concurring with Chimunthu Banda, asked for the House’s permission to allow general debate on the budget as the opposition prepares for their responses.
But leader of the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) Aleke Banda wondered how the House could proceed with general debate before responses from opposition parties.
“May I suggest Mr. Speaker Sir that if the honourable Minister of Finance is ready with his papers on the financial motions, we could start with those bills, so that we can come back later to hear the spokespersons, leaders and then general debate,” said Banda.
But Chimango reminded the House that Tembo did not indicate when he would make his response, asking Chimunthu Banda as Leader of the House to give directions on how to proceed.
Chimunthu Banda then said since Tembo had indicated he would give his response later, the procedure was that before general debate, spokespersons of the opposition parties should respond first.
Deputy Irrigation and Water Development Minister Frank Mwenefumbo, standing on a point of order, wondered what the Business Committee discusses.
“Mr. Speaker Sir, I am getting a little apprehensive on the way we are making progress in this House. I want to believe that the issues we are discussing here should have been well articulated in the Business Committee. I don’t think we can come here and start formulating procedures and so on and so forth. What I want to know from our leaders, who represent us in the Business Committee, is what do you discuss there?” wondered Mwenefumbo, attracting a mixture of jeers and cheers from the House.
According to Mwenefumbo, lack of time management has led to slow progress, appealing to the Business Committee to guide the House so that issues on agenda are tackled.
The Speaker said when Business Committee met, there was no mid-term budget review documentation for discussion, proposing an early tea break to allow the committee to bang heads on the way forward.
When the House resumed after over two hours, Chimango said the committee had agreed to adjourn the proceedings to today afternoon and that the House would tackle money bills and the response to mid-term review will be come later.
He further said leaders of political parties will make their responses on Friday.






Malawi: My Turn
by David Mkwambisi, 21 February 2007 - 05:54:44
Parliament, development in Malawi

The Malawi Parliament is currently sitting to deliberate on issues of national concern at which some bills will be rejected, amended, passed and scrutinised in addition to the usual political fights that waste our resource.
These ‘honourables’ in addition to members of cabinet will once again spend millions of kwacha trying to keep the boat afloat, finding means of reducing poverty, creating opportunities for foreign investors, debating HIV and Aids issues, motions on social insecurity especially those affecting our women and children, taking the government to task on fertiliser subsidy programme, misuse of tax payers’ money, the poor outcome of MSCE results, and of all the relationship between government and the opposition on socio-economic issues. I have no problem with this menu.
But over the years, deliberations in our august House has left a lot to be desired. Even though the House increases the revenue of several businessmen and women in the capital city, Lilongwe, important national issues have not been given enough time for improving the human development indicators. Although we have seen the best-dressed MPs when moving their motions and contributing to the debate, the rate of social insecurity has been increasing.
Notwithstanding the important views from the opposition, our government has continued overspending. Albeit, the increase in their salaries and allowances, education is still deteriorating with people dying like cockroaches. In spite of an increased number of well-qualified and experienced politicians, our Parliament has failed not only the people it represents, but also the donors who support their deliberations.
First and foremost, Parliament should put at heart issues of national importance. The top list on their menu should be actions that will improve our education sector. They should be able to understand why we have a pass rate of 33 percent in MSCE? Parliament should bring to task those involved with this disaster.
The House should be in a position to know that several private secondary schools are not worth to be undertaking their activities in Malawi and there is need for an independent government agency like the Medical Council which should be vested with the powers to license and regulate the private secondary school establishments. The Ministry of Education has failed to undertake this task.
Our parliamentarians should recognise the problems faced by the teaching professionals at all levels. The august House should come up with recommendations, committees and policing organs that will transform the education sector. I hope this will be discussed. The parliamentary committee on education has been so quiet as if it does not exist. It is high time Malawians got what they voted for.
Parliament should know how to cost the inputs required to feed the country and which districts require fertiliser. Our MPs should be the first ones to understand that fertiliser subsidies are not the only requirements to food security.
It is Parliament that should know that climate change, international trade, peace, social cohesion, community self-motivation, capacity-building are but some of the elements to achieve sustainable development.
Parliament should deliberate issues of equality of men and women and the problem of implementation of relevant law; the participation and role of national women groups in development. MPs should bring in best practices of implementing the policy of equal rights and opportunities of men and women, cooperation of the Parliament and public on ensuring policy of equal rights.
Parliament should be on the stage of analysis and perception of the problems that are provoked by the imbalance of the roles of men and women in society. We are only opening these problems for ourselves: low social status of women, imbalance in the labour market, high mortality of women, restriction of capacities for women to realise their full intellectual capital. Who will complete these discussions if our MPs have no time for such important issues?
Sadly, national progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remains too slow and raises fears that Malawi is among those that need additional assistance. Malawi is not on target—much more needs to be done and must be done now. In short, the Parliament needs to act to ensure that our MPs, have the means to address the national economic agenda in general and the agenda that is being set by the international economic bodies in particular.
—The author is a lecturer at Bunda College, currently studying in the UK.




£414m bill for Holyrood building
The final cost of the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood has been put at £414.4m.
MSPs were given a final report on the "Holyrood Project" which showed that the price tag was some £16m cheaper than expected.
Presiding officer George Reid also announced that the building's contractors will not be sued over construction delays.
The constuction of the Holyrood complex has been formally declared complete.
However, Mr Reid said legal action would be taken to recover the costs of a broken beam in the main chamber.
The most recent estimate of the building costs had been £430.5m.
Bill Aitken MSP, Scottish Conservative chief whip, said nobody had come out of the row over the Scottish Parliament with any great credit.
"But at least some sort of grip was eventually exercised. The recovery of £16.1m is very welcome," he said.
An inquiry into the problems with the construction of the building was held by Tory peer Lord Fraser.
He found systemic failures but no single "villain of the piece".
'Steely determination'
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Reid said: "As Lord Fraser made clear, everyone involved in the project - consultants, contractors, MSPs, staff - might have managed it better.
"In making our announcement today, we are not trying to sweep past problems out of the way.
"The most we can claim is a steely determination to get a grip on the project - to move us in and then to move us on - and never to give up on our dedication to get back what we could for the public purse."
A White Paper published shortly after Labour's 1997 general election victory initially put the construction cost of a Scottish Parliament building at between £10m and £40m.
The following year, Holyrood was named as the site of the new parliament and the search began for a designer.
By this stage, the cost had gone up to £50m. The same year also saw a decision to use the "construction management" method for the building, in which the client has full control but also carries all the risk.
After the first Holyrood election in 1999, the then Scottish Office handed responsibility for the project over to the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body of senior MSPs.
The newly-elected parliament voted by 64 to 61 to continue with the project after First Minister Donald Dewar put the cost at £109m.
New building
Costs rose, timetables were extended, MSPs came and went in the 2003 election, and still the building at the bottom of the Royal Mile was unfinished.
MSPs finally moved into the new building in September 2004 and it was opened by the Queen the following month.
By then it was three years late and had cost about 10 times the original price tag.
In recent years the building has picked up a number of accolades, including the UK's richest architecture award - the Andrew Doolan award, which is presented by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.






Scottish Parliament hosts equality review

21st February 2007 11:19
Tony Grew

The chairman of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) is to speak at a conference on equality in Scotland.

Trevor Philips, who is currently head of the Commission for Racial Equality, will address the gathering of more than 80 different age, disability, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation groups.

LGBT Youth Scotland are to attend the conference this Friday at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

They will have an opportunity to address the chamber about how they view equalities in Scotland.

Mr Philips, who will give the keynote speech, was a controversial choice to head the new rights commission.

The CEHR comes into operation in Autumn 2007 and will provide a single voice on equality and human rights.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay charity Stonewall, and a commissioner of the new body, said in September that Mr Philips will have to reach out to the gay community.

"Trevor will have to prove that he can address the needs of all the communities represented by the CEHR," he said.

"He has not so far delivered for lesbian and gay people, who were rarely mentioned in the Equalities Review he chaired.

"We trust he will listen to a range of stakeholders as he climbs this steep learning curve."

The CEHR will be responsible for enforcing the Equality Act, which guarantees freedom from discrimination in the provision of goods and services regardless of sexual orientation.

It will inherit the responsibilities of the existing equality commissions, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission.

London mayor Ken Livingstone attacked the concept of the ECHR.

In December 2006 he said plans to put minority groups such as black, people, the gay community and women under one organisation are "rubbish."

The event in the Scottish Parliament this Friday feeds into 2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities for All.

It will focus on developments in equalities over the past two parliamentary sessions, as well as inviting the delegates to set further targets for the future.

New elections for the parliament will be held in May.

Speaking ahead of the event, Trevor Phillips said:

"The Scottish Parliament Equalities Review will help inform the CEHR’s agenda in a significant way. The CEHR strongly recognises devolution and will operate in an autonomous, but not separate way in Scotland.

"As the national leader in creating a society at ease with all aspects of human diversity, the CEHR will rely on Scotland to be an important contributor to the GB-wide equality and human rights agenda."

Members of the public wishing to attend the event should contact Visitor Services on 0131 348 5200.






Russian Parliament Rejects Power Sharing Agreement With Muslim Internal Republic

MosNews

Russia’s upper house of parliament on Wednesday rejected an agreement on separation of authority between the federal government and Tatarstan, The Associated Press news agency reports.

The Federation Council voted 93-13 with 15 abstensions to reject the document, which maintained the Tatar language’s dominant status in the province and reaffirmed local authorities’ grip on its mineral wealth. The lower house of Russian parliament approved the agreement earlier this month.

Both houses of parliament are dominated by the Kremlin, and the rejection of the treaty by the upper house indicated its desire to keep Tatarstan’s ambitions at bay.

The oil-rich, predominantly Muslim region on the Volga River has enjoyed the broadest autonomy among Russian provinces, and fears that it may try to secede following Chechnya’s example have haunted the Kremlin since the Soviet collapse.

Since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, he has pushed through laws limiting the region’s self-rule and strengthening federal authority.

Tatarstan’s regional president, Mintimer Shaimiyev, initially opposed a Kremlin-initiated law scrapping popular elections of regional chiefs and enabling Putin to effectively appoint them instead. However, he made a turnaround, and last year won Putin’s blessing for another term in office.

The power-sharing agreement, which Tatarstan proposed last year, lowered its ambitions but still gave the province far more autonomy than other regions.

The agreement, which needs to be ratified by the federal parliament, obliged the leader of Tatarstan to speak the Tatar language in addition to Russian and allowed regional authorities to issue “internal passports” - the main identification document for Russian citizens — with an insert in Tatar.

Among other things, the agreement also stated that the federal government and Tatarstan’s regional administration are to reach a deal giving Tatarstan authorities a say in decisions on economic, environmental, cultural and other issues in the region.

The 1991 Soviet collapse encouraged pro-independence movements among Tatars, whose warrior ancestors conquered Russia in the early 13th century. Tatar historians and veterans have urged the Kremlin to stop celebrating a 14th-century battle in which a Moscow prince defeated their forebears, calling it an insult to their ethnic pride, and Shaimiyev recently expressed concern about a rise in ethnic bias among ethnic Russians.




South Africa: Parliament to cost over R1bn

The South African Parliament is expected to cost 1.07 billion rand in 2007/8, with constituency allowances for Members of Parliament showing the largest spike.

Constituency support will cost 188 million rand in 2007/8 - up from 105 million rand in 2006/7, while the estimated allocation for 2008/9 rises to 202 million rand.

The figures are up some 67 million rand from the 121 million rand estimate for 2007/8 in the 2006 budget and up some 73 million rand for the 2008/9 year from the 128.8 million rand in the 2006 budget.

Parliament was expected to have spent some 855 million rand in 2006/7 - about 156 million rand less than estimated.

However, spending by parliament is expected to rise to 1.2 billion rand in 2009/10.

Members’ remuneration made up some 222 million rand in 2006/7 and it is expected to rise to 242 million

rand in 2007/08.

Spending in 2006/07 was down on administration to 158 million rand - below the 216 million rand estimate.

The legislation and oversight program spend was down from 173 million rand estimate to 126 million rand.

Spending on Members’ facilities was down from a budget of 151 million rand to just 121 million rand.





Statue of Margaret Thatcher to be unveiled at British Parliament

The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

LONDON: The Iron Lady has become bronze.

Despite protests that previous prime ministers had to be dead to rate a statue in the Houses of Parliament, a statue of Margaret Thatcher will be unveiled in her presence Wednesday.

The 7-foot, 4-inch (2.24-meter) tall statue — cast of silicon bronze — shows Thatcher raising her hand to make a point during a debate during her final term in office. The bronze statue will face a likeness of Winston Churchill in the member's lobby of the Palace of Westminster, the ornate building on the bank of the River Thames that houses Parliament.

"I think it is right and fitting ... that we should have a celebration and be able to allow the Member concerned to be there and enjoy the unveiling," Speaker Michael Martin said.

Thatcher sat several times for sculptor Antony Dufort, who also worked from historical photographs, and who borrowed the former prime minister's shoes and clothes to help him finish the statue.

Thatcher, 81, was the first female British prime minister, serving from 1979 until she resigned in the face of a revolt by her own Conservative Party in 1990.