Parliament emergency sitting cancelled lastminute

The Parliament scheduled an emergency sitting for Thursday, but has now cancelled it at the last minute.

The Parliament’s Secretariat had notified lawmakers of the decision to hold a sitting on Thursday at around 01:30 am, stating that the exact time and agenda would be shared later.

But the lawmakers received a second notification close to 10:00 am, announcing the cancellation of the sitting.

“A sitting of the People’s Majlis will not be held today. We hereby inform you that the date for the next sitting will be shared later,” reads the notification.

The Parliament had been set to go into recess this week, but decided on Wednesday to extend the session to August 20, citing the need to complete “important work.”

The move came as the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), which holds a supermajority in the Parliament, pushes to fast-track a contentious new bill that seeks to grant the central government greater powers to seize land under the jurisdiction of local councils.

The bill, which proposes introducing new provisions to the Decentralization Act, was submitted on August 5 by Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan Aboobakr, an independent aligned with the ruling party.

The bill was admitted into the Parliament on Monday with a majority vote of 55-8, and sent to the Decentralization Committee, which on Tuesday set a five-day deadline to complete its review.

Taking over land and lagoons under the jurisdiction of local councils currently requires a presidential decree.

But Hannan’s bill proposes granting the cabinet the power to take over land and lagoons.

It states that land and lagoons will be removed from the jurisdiction of councils and transferred under the full control of the state once the cabinet makes such decisions, and the Local Government Authority (LGA) informs councils of it.

It also states that councils will be required to hand over land to the LGA upon request of the central government when seeking land to run projects.

The bill is also designed to prohibit councilors from acting, without a justifiable reason, in a manner that hinders planned government projects, or making any decision that could obstruct such projects.

The new bill comes amid complaints from top government officials over lack of cooperation from some councils for planned projects, including refusal to hand over land.

It also follows controversial amendments to the Decentralization Act last year that curtailed the power of councils to recruit new staff and lease land, lagoons and reefs under their jurisdiction close to council elections.

The bill has sparked an e-petition, demanding Hannan to withdraw it. The petition has gathered over 1,600 signatures.