KABUL (SW): The Minister for Communication and Information Technology on Tuesday became the latest victim of no-confidence votes’ drive by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house).
The house casted votes over the fate of four ministers today on the basis of their utilization of the development budget. These ministers, just like the others grilled by the WJ in the past few days, were asked to explain reasons for not utilizing up to 70 of their annual development budget in the year 2016. Abdul Razaq Wahidi, the Minister for Communication and Information Technology failed to win the vote of confidence today while Assadullah Zamir, Minister for Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Ali Ahmad Usmani, Minister for Power and Energy and Salamat Azimi, Minister for Counter Narcotics managed to win it.
Wahidi received 147 votes against him while only 49 in his favor, Zamir received 131 votes in his favor and only 62 against him, Usmani bagged 115 votes of confidence and 60 votes of no-confidence while Azimi received 72 votes in her support and 114 against her. Zahir Qadeer, deputy speaker of the house, urged upon President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani to pick a new minister for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.
The house has so far voted over the fate of 13 ministers, six of whom managed to win the confidence of the parliamentarians while the rest of seven have been deprived of their authority by the WJ with the no-confidence vote. The WJ has expressed resolve to make 17 minister pass through this voting process.
ENDS
