The Parliament has asked the Finance Ministry to provide the necessary documents related to the supplementary budget prior to its presentation to the Parliament.
The Parliament Secretariat issued the instruction as there are documents that the government must submit to parliament under the relevant laws before the supplementary budget is presented. While the government sent some documents on a previous occasion, certain crucial documents are still missing, according to the Parliament Secretariat.
Last Wednesday, the Finance Ministry submitted a supplementary budget of MVR 6.5 billion to seek parliamentary approval. This supplementary budget is intended to cover government expenditures for the remaining two months of the year.
A parliamentary session was held the following Monday, but the budget was not included on the agenda. Although the supplementary budget was on the agenda for Tuesday’s session as a proposal from the Speaker’s table, Deputy Speaker Eva Abdullah announced that the session had to be adjourned due to an insufficient quorum.
The main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s parliamentary group leader, MP Mohamed Aslam, has expressed his concerns about the back-and-forth regarding the supplementary budget proposal.
Aslam said the purpose of the supplementary budget is to ensure the government has the necessary funds to continue providing services to the people for the remainder of the year. Delays in approving the budget could result in serious difficulties for both the government and the public, he said.
The Speaker of Parliament began pointing out that there are documents to be submitted with the supplementary budget after Minority Leader, HEnveiru Central MP Ali Azim said that the supplementary budget was sent to Parliament in violation of relevant laws.
In a letter addressed to Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, Azim said the government failed to submit important information such as the budget position report along with the supplementary budget as the revenue and expenditure of the state and some of the previous goals would change with the supplementary budget.
Azim believes that it is information that should be submitted to parliament under the Finance Act, and It is the responsibility of the Parliament to obtain that information. If the supplementary budget sent to Parliament is submitted to the floor without these documents, the process would become susceptible to irregular practices, he said.
