Legislature – Page 6 – Tshering Tobgay

Turn on that switch!

July 10, 2009Legislature, Media6 Comments

It’s been one week since the National Assembly discontinued live TV coverage of its proceedings. And most of us have now resigned to the fact that the National Assembly’s discussions are not broadcast on live TV. Not our villagers though. I still receive calls to appeal, on their behalf, for resumption of live coverage – on radio and TV – of the Assembly’s proceedings. Today, for instance, Tashi Gyeltshen telephoned me. Tashi is from remote Merak in Trashigang. And he’s a yak herder. He called to tell me that he wants to listen to the Assembly sessions on his…

Civil service bill

July 8, 2009Legislature

Earlier today, at about 4:30 PM, after four days of discussions, we decided to conclude the deliberations on the Civil Service Bill. The bill will be adopted tomorrow morning. It will then be forwarded to the National Council. But I’m still confused. On day one of the discussions, we decided to remove Section 2(d) of the bill. This section repeals all sections of the Judicial Service Act that pertain to personnel matters. So we removed it to protect the independence of the judiciary. But on day two, the section was reinserted in order to ensure parity in personnel policies…

Dangerous standoff

July 8, 2009Legislature

So yesterday, it was our agriculture minister’s turn. He too didn’t show up for the National Council’s “Question Time”. And the Council had to adjourn, yet again. The National Council Act, which we passed just last year, authorizes the Council to: “… summon any person to attend the proceedings of the National Council …” The act also empowers the National Council to “…call the attention of a minister to any matter of urgent public importance” and to “…question the Government during Question Time.” If our ministers feel that they do not need to report to the National Council, they…

Inaugural session

June 26, 2009Democracy, Legislature, Monarchy

I’m posting the speech I delivered in Parliament today. I’d proposed a vote of thanks for His Majesty the King’s gracious presence during the inaugural ceremony of the third session of the Parliament. The original speech was delivered in Dzongkha. And I spoke from points I had prepared earlier. But I’ve tried my best to translate what I presented into English as accurately as possible. The photograph shows Tshering Tobgay addressing the National Assembly’s second session in January 2009 Vote of Thanks to His Majesty the King Welcome His Majesty the King On this most auspicious day, I, on…

Third session

June 25, 2009Legislature

The third session of the first Parliament of Bhutan begins tomorrow. His Majesty the King will grace the inaugural ceremony of the third session. And the prime minister will submit his annual report on the state of our Nation to the Druk Gyalpo and the parliament. The proceedings tomorrow will be broadcast live by BBS. As will the entire proceedings of the National Council. But the National Assembly, as of now, has not changed its decision to prevent the BBS from broadcasting most of its proceedings. I’m still working on some talking points for tomorrow. But I’m finding it…

Civil service bill

June 16, 2009Legislature

You can download the Civil Service Bill of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2009 from the National Assembly's website. This is important bill will be discussed during the forthcoming session of the Parliament. So please read it. And share your thoughts and comments here.

World No Tobacco Day

May 31, 2009Legislature

Eighty seven people participated in the poll on unemployment. And 75 of them, a whopping 86%, said that unemployment is already a big problem. We need to do a lot more to generate gainful employment. And to make our youth feel more hopeful about their futures. I've been talking to many youth about their hopes and aspirations, their ambitions and careers, and their fears and insecurities. And about unemployment. I'll start featuring some of their stories in future entries. But today, 31 May 2009, is World No Tobacco Day. So I'm reminded of our earlier attempts to discourage tobacco…

Calling for issues

May 22, 2009Legislature

The third session of the Parliament will begin on 26 June 2009. But the agenda is not yet final. In fact, we don't even have a draft agenda. But expect your MPs to discuss the Local Government Bill, Tobacco Bill, Royal Monetary Authority Bill, Civil Service Bill and the 2009-2010 Budget Bill during their summer session. There probably will be other bills too. But, for now, I invite our readers to go through these bills and give me your comments. The bills should be on the relevant websites (That's MOHCA, MOH, RMA, RCSC and MOF). The Parliament will also…

CDG unconstitutional

May 20, 2009Legislature14 Comments

Yesterday, I called on our Minister of Finance. I met him to personally explain why the opposition feels that the Constituency Grant (CDG) is unconstitutional. In particular, I advised him that the CDG may violate the following provisions of our constitution. Article 1.13: There shall be separation of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and no encroachment of each other's powers is permissible except to the extent provided for by this Constitution. The CDG, as proposed, require MPs (members of the legislature) to be involved in proposing, approving and monitoring projects in the gewogs. That is, the legislature…

CDG poll results

May 20, 2009Legislature

Of the 37 participants in the poll, 43% asked for more debate on the CDG by using our media. 35% felt that the CDG was unconstitutional and that the Ministry of Finance should be informed accordingly. And 22% said that ECB should be informed that the CDG breaks election laws. Thank you for your advice. Yesterday I officially informed that Minister of Finance that the CDG is unconstitutional. And I spoke with the media with the hope of facilitating public debate on this important issue.

Raising funds honourably

May 18, 2009Legislature, Political parties

I was surprised to learn that "... the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) leaders recently told their members of parliament (MPs) to raise money for the party." (Read the Kuensel article). This is illegal. And I'm sure that the DPT leaders know that this is illegal. The National Assembly Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2008 forbids members of the National Assembly from fund raising. Section 54 under Chapter 7 (Role and Responsibility of the Members) specifically states that "A member shall not resort to any form of fund raising from individuals or ay agency." I've already accepted that we…

Illegal grants

May 15, 2009Legislature2 Comments

Our poll says that the CDG is illegal. 52% of the participants think that the CDG is unconstitutional. And 18% feel that it is very bad; that it will breed corruption. 15% are suspicious that the CDG will be used to win the next elections. And only 15% feel that the CDG is a good idea; that the grant will allow our MPs to fulfill their promises. 33 people participated in the poll. The result is obvious. An overwhelming majority of us feel that the CDG is not a good idea. And most of us are convinced that it…

About the constitution

May 12, 2009Government, Legislature

Kuensel is correct for being concerned that the 12 “dzongdags’ transfer flouts BCSR rule”. The newspaper is also correct for being concerned that RCSC rules may have been broken. And correct for pointing out that our government is “not above the law.” But, as serious as Kuensel’s concerns already are, we should be even more seriously concerned. Why? Because our cabinet’s offense is not limited to breaking BCSR and RCSC rules. Instead, our cabinet may have knowingly broken the provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan. Article 2, Section 19(q) of our constitution states that “The Druk…

Seedy grant

April 20, 2009Legislature21 Comments

Our newspapers reported that the cabinet has approved the constituency development grant last week (read Bhutan Observer). I join the NC Chairman in expressing complete shock at the cabinet’s decision. Here are a few reasons, most of which I’ve shared with BBS, why we should be seriously concerned if the CDG has really been approved:1. It is unconstitutional. Our Constitution declares that “there shall be separation of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and no encroachment of each other’s powers is permissible.” Allowing MPs to implement the CDG amounts to the legislature encroaching on the executive.2. It undermines…

The winner takes it all

March 25, 2009Democracy, Legislature7 Comments

I commemorated the first anniversary of our country’s first general elections by pouring over the election results. And, in doing so, I was reminded of the pain and disappointment on that historic day. I was also reminded of the dangers of our electoral system.Of the 253,012 votes cast, 83,522 were cast in favour of PDP. That works out to a little over 33% of the total votes cast. The rest, that’s about 67%, were cast in favour of DPT.But PDP won only two of the 47 constituencies. That’s barely 4% of the total number of constituencies. So although PDP…