KABUL (SW): The Wolesi Jirga (lower house) on Sunday voted against the transport and education ministers over their alleged failure to properly utilize their annual development budgets.
This is the second consecutive day of the Wolesi Jirga’s drive against cabinet members in this regard. A day earlier, the majority of the house casted a non-confidence vote against Mamud Baligh, the minister for the Ministry of Public Works, Selahuddin Rabani, the mister for the Foreign Ministry and Nasrin Oryakhil, the minister for the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs & Disabled.
Today, the house had called Transport Minister Mohammadullah Batash, Education Minister Haneef Balkhi and Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi. None of these ministers appeared before the WJ, and the house then casted vote in their absence. The house had urged the ministers to explain reason behind not spending up to 70 of their development budgets. At the end of the voting, Hakimi won the vote of confidence while Batash and Balkhi received votes of no confidence from the house.
The Speaker Abdul Raheem Ibrahimi said on the occasion that Balkhi received 131 votes against him and only 68 in his favour, Batash received 142 votes against him and only 51 in his favour while Hakimi bagged 112 votes against him and 85 in his favour.
Late on Saturday, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani raised objections over the vote of no confidence against Foreign Ministe Salahuddin Rabbani. Underling that the parliamentarians have no sufficient knowledge about budget spending, the President urged the WJ to halt the process of voting on the matter.
ENDS
