The AFC is accusing the governing PPP/C and the main opposition PNCR of deliberate efforts to stifle the party’s involvement in the affairs of the Parliament.
The party has written to the acting Speaker of the National Assembly, Clarissa Riehl, expressing its “displeasure” with the way in which it says the attempts to exclude its participation are being encouraged and supported. “The AFC is firmly of the view that there is a collaborative PPP/C and PNCR-1G effort to deny it an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the business of parliament,” the party said in a press statement yesterday, while demanding an explanation.
It said has had reason to complain in the past about the exclusion of its members from committees as alternates, the removal of AFC and GAP-ROAR representatives from the programme of the recently concluded parliamentary symposium involving MPs from the UK Parliament, and more recently, what it sees as the deliberate exclusion of any AFC member to comprise a delegation to conduct a study mission at the Nebraska Legislature in the US, in March.
According to the AFC, at the commencement of the Ninth Parliament, MPs were informed that political party representation on committees, delegations and the like would be accorded on a proportionate basis. Unfortunately, it added, this rule is being observed in disobedience. It said it was mind-boggling how a parliamentary delegation of the size and importance that is scheduled to visit Nebraska could include only the PPP/C and the PNCR-1G and not all of the political parties represented in Parliament. Regretfully, it said, the statements made and often repeated about inclusiveness and cooperation are nothing but idle boasts.
