Legislature – Page 2 – Tshering Tobgay

Utter nonsense

June 7, 2011Legislature12 Comments

The National Assembly’s live TV broadcasts are proving useful. One observer, for instance, a senior civil servant, followed the recent debate on the Anticorruption Bill, and noticed that I “didn’t utter a word” during the discussions. She spoke to Kuensel about it, which reported that: A senior civil servant said the opposition leader was very emphatic about the severity of the tobacco Act’s penalty that he went to the extent of hiring a lawyer for the first Bhutanese to be convicted under the Act, pro bono. “He didn’t utter a word when members were deliberating the corruption amendment bill,”…

Financial services … for who?

May 27, 2011Legislature11 Comments

A joint sitting of the Parliament passed the Financial Services Bill. 66 members voted for the Bill. Only one member voted against it. That solitary member was me. I voted against the Bill because it is discriminatory – it favors foreign investors over our own people. Section 50 of the Bill specifies that a Bhutanese individual cannot own more than 20% of a financial institution’s shares; and that a Bhutanese company cannot own more than 30% of a financial institution’s shares. But the Bill does not specify the amount of shares a foreign company can own in a financial…

National speaker?

April 21, 2011Legislature, Media14 Comments

Yesterday, members of the National Assembly met to discuss the preliminary agenda for the Assembly’s next session. During the discussions, the members also considered if the entire proceedings of the National Assembly should once again be broadcast on live TV. After exchanging the same old arguments – from the need to promote transparency by those favoring live TV, to the importance of preventing the public from influencing legislative debate by those against live TV – the members passed the buck to their speaker. The Constitution and the National Assembly Act both empower the Speaker to prevent the media from…

Quiet!

March 17, 2011Legislature30 Comments

Several readers have repeatedly asked me why the opposition party had not taken the ECB to court for disregarding the Constitution during the recent thromde elections. “Guardian”, for example, has argued that since the opposition had taken the government to court for violating the Constitution, it should, by the same measure, also take the ECB to court for allowing candidates to stand for election even though they had not been registered in their respective constituencies for the minimum one-year period. And Since I hadn’t responded to these concerns, “Guardian” challenged, on several posts, that “by going against the government…

2 Letters

January 3, 2011Legislature, Media9 Comments

I sent two letters today. The first letter was to the Chief Election Commissioner informing him that the ECB’s recent decision to revise the criteria for candidates to local governments may violate provisions of the Constitution, Election Act and the Local Government Act. The second letter was to the Director of BICMA complaining that The Journalist had quoted me in their article when they hadn’t even interviewed me. And that, in that article, they had inaccurately claimed that I had supported the ECB’s decision.

New year wish

January 1, 2011Legislature

It’s a new year. And starting today, the Tobacco Control Act comes into effect. So if you cultivate or harvest, manufacture, supply or distribute tobacco and tobacco products, you’ll be jailed for at least three years and up to five years. If you possess tobacco, and if you can’t prove that you’ve imported it for your own consumption, you’ll be jailed for at least one year and up to three years, but only if you reveal from where you got your tobacco. If you don’t reveal your source, you’ll receive an additional sentence, jailing you for least three more…

Good news

December 8, 2010Government, Legislature21 Comments

The National Assembly has endorsed the government’s proposal to increase the salaries of public servants. Here’s the good news: Civil Servants will get a 20% raise over their pre-2009 salaries. Pre-2009 is used as a base as that was when salaries were last increased (by 35%), taking the total increase to 55%. Civil service salaries will now range from Nu 7,067 (for GSC II staff) to Nu 52,654 a month (for EX-1/ES-1 level). Secretaries to Government will draw Nu 55,490 a month. And the Cabinet Secretary will get Nu 63,000. That makes the Cabinet Secretary Bhutan’s top civil servant.…

Totally redundant

December 7, 2010Legislature

Yesterday, the National Assembly passed the Sales Tax, Customs and Excise (Amendment) Bill, and the Public Finance (Amendment) Bill. The two of us in the opposition party had argued that the bills would violate the Constitution, and, in the end, only the two of us voted against the bills. The two amendments could allow the government to impose and raise taxes without having to seek the Parliament’s approval. The bills will now be forwarded to the National Council, who will discuss them in the next session. If they pass the bills, the amendments will come into effect. If not,…

Monitoring drayangs

December 3, 2010Legislature

The public of Paro informed the National Assembly that drayangs and discotheques cause societal problems and upset the social harmony. So they suggested that strict licensing and operating rules should be developed in order to reduce the numbers of such entertainment centres. When discussing this matter yesterday, MPs, focusing mainly on drayangs, complained that these businesses lured young women from the villages, underpaid them and subject them to sexual harassment. So a couple of MPs pushed for an outright ban on drayangs. But, thankfully, the majority favoured developing clearer policies and regulations, and leaving licensing and enforcement to local…

Funding parties

November 25, 2010Legislature, Political parties

The ruling party today submitted a motion to amend the Election Act 2008. The motion sailed through the National Assembly, with only two members – both from the opposition party – objecting to it. The proposed amendment seeks to include a new provision in the Election Act that would permit state funding for political parties. According to Section 158 of the Election Act: The income of political parties shall be made up of: (a) Registration fee; (b) Membership fees; and (c) Voluntary Contributions from registered members. Section 158 was debated extensively during the first session of the Parliament when…

Relief for relief fund?

November 23, 2010Legislature, Monarchy

During Question Hour today, I requested the Hon’ble Home Minister to report on the status of the Relief Fund. In particular, I asked him if he, as the minister in charge of disaster management, would propose legislation to establish the Relief Fund. According to Article 14 Section 12 of the Constitution: Parliament shall establish a relief fund and the Druk Gyalpo shall have the prerogative to use this fund for urgent and unforeseen humanitarian relief. Bhutan’s first Parliament has already met five times. And the sixth session is currently on. Yet, and in spite of the opposition party’s repeated…

Question Hour questions

November 17, 2010Legislature

Responding to the agenda for the National Assembly’s sixth session, one reader, “sonam_t”, asked if there were any plans to discuss a “Right to Information Act”. “Truth”, another reader, asked if when Parliament would “… introduce Landlord Tenant act, which actually protects tenants.” Both the comments are important. And, since both of them will not be discussed during the sixth session, I might raise them during Question Hour. The Question Hour, which takes place every Tuesday and Friday, is an important mechanism in the National Assembly by which members can question every aspect of government administration and policy. So…

Anticorruption (Amendment) Bill

November 12, 2010Legislature

One of the most important legislations that the National Assembly will debate during the sixth session is the Anticorruption (Amendment) Bill 2010. The National Council had resolved to amend the Anticorruption Act 2006 during its third session. And based on that, the Council’s Good Governance Committee and ACC officials carried out a review of the Act. The Act was revised to clarify and rationalize some of its provisions with other laws including the Penal Code of Bhutan and the Civil and Criminal Procedure Code of Bhutan. It was also revised to ensure compliance with the United Nations Convention Against…

Sixth session

November 10, 2010Legislature9 Comments

The 6th session of the Parliament is scheduled to begin on the 19th of November. During this session, which will go on till the 10th of December, the National Assembly will consider the following bills: Child Care and Protection Bill Penal Code (Amendment) Bill Anticorruption (Amendment) Bill Civil and Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill Sales Tax, Customs and Excise (Amendment) Bill Public Finance (Amendment) Bill Land Act (Amendment) Bill Election (Amendment) Bill The government will submit reports on actions taken on the following resolutions of the National Assembly: Pay revision Zhaptog lemi Constituency development grant National minimum wage rage The…

Fundamentally right

October 31, 2010Government, Legislature

Several readers didn’t agree with my suggestion that the government should pay more money for the land that they are acquiring behind the Tashichhodzong. “Dorji Drolo” favours increasing the land rates only for the original inhabitants of Hejo, but fiercely opposes increases for the others, most of who would have purchased the land at much lower prices. “Dorji Drolo” also agrued that, since the land was “… earmarked for green area some 20 years back” the compensation rates were sufficient. I agree with “Dorji Drolo” that the original inhabitants should be paid more, much more, for their land. Many…