The second attempt to grant sweeping powers to two presidential commissions established to investigate murders and enforced disappearances and corruption has been unsuccessful yet again.
At the parliamentary sitting on Monday, the quorum required to ask for vote on the bill was not fulfilled, therefore, the sitting concluded without having passed the bill.
The first attempt to pass the bill was also unsuccessful as the number of parliamentarians present at the sitting was not adequate to pass the bill.
Speaker of parliament Gasim Ibrahim stated during Monday's sitting that the presence of 43 members on the parliament floor is necessary to ask for votes on a bill. However, just shy of 43, only 42 members were presently in attendance, announced Gasim.
The government, through the bill had aimed to empower the two commissions with authority to conduct criminal investigations, file criminal charges and freeze accounts of suspects.
The bill also mandates the prosecutor's office to set up a separate department to fast-track prosecutions in just 15 days while the courts would be obligated to settle the entire judicial process in 60 days.
The second bill scheduled to be passed at Monday's sitting was allowing funds from pension savings to be utilized for funding the Hajj pilgrimage. Another of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's pledges to be implemented within the first 100 days of administration, the amendment could not be asked for vote either due to the lack of required quorum.
