Derailed by MPs

Efforts to impeach ministers for their failure to spend more than 50 percent of budgets have hit another roadblock. Parliament had to put off the vote after members could not agree on how to proceed.

Efforts to impeach ministers for their failure to spend more than 50 percent of budgets have hit another roadblock. Parliament had to put off the vote after members could not agree on how to proceed.
On April 1, the ministers of economy, information and culture, and mines denied any wrongdoing in Parliament. While the Economics Minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal said his ministry could not spend the allocated budget because they never received it, the Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani was quoted saying part of the money in the budget was not received and two foreign companies refused to pay the ministry. Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdom Rahin had a similar plea. According to him, “the money existed on paper … our total budget was less”.
But a vote in parliament on whether or not they were to be believed was put off over objections raised by some Members of Parliament (MPs). They wanted the vote only after the remaining eight ministers facing impeachment are questioned. A total of 11 ministers are under scrutiny for mismanaging budgets in 2011-12.
MPs who wanted the house to vote on the three ministers accused the nay-sayers of taking bribes from the ministers. The charge has been taken seriously by parliament’s anti-corruption office, and investigations are underway. Lawmakers who have made the charges have been asked to provide evidence.
On April 9, Mohammad Amin Khuramji, deputy in the anti-corruption office, said no evidence has been forthcoming. He clarified that no file has been opened so far against anyone.
Parliament had used its authority to summon ministers in December last year after the Ministry of Finance released figures to show that 11 ministries had underspent their development budget.
The summons sparked a tug of war between Parliament and President Hamid Karzai who said his ministers do not have to show up for questioning. Eventually the matter was sorted out with the president standing aside.
After the aborted vote in Parliament, Daikundi MP Mohammad Noor Akbari said in a general session that the president must realise that ministers who have bribed MPs have spent “government money”. “He will not be your (president’s) minister,” he said.