Ruling PNC has requested its lawmakers against summoning cabinet ministers to the Parliament during Ramadan.
PNC parliamentary group’s leadership and several other senior parliamentarians held a meeting at the Parliament at 11:15 am Sunday.
Sun has learned that the meeting was headed by Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla and Parliament Majority Leader Ibrahim Falah. A PNC lawmaker who attended the meeting said chairpersons and vice chairpersons presiding over parliamentary committees were requested against summoning ministers to the Parliament during Ramadan.
The exact reason behind the request has not been disclosed.
Neither Abdul Raheem nor Falah responded to questions regarding the matter.
Cabinet ministers are often summoned to the parliament floor and committees for questioning over various issues.
Notably, during this meeting, PNC lawmakers also engaged in discussions regarding initiating a parliamentary inquiry into allegations against Supreme Court justices. Following the difference in opinion among the parliamentarians, Abdul Raheem decided to make a decision after discussing it with President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
Ruling PNC holds supermajority in the Parliament.
The possible move to replace the Supreme Court bench comes as the court hears a petition lodged over a constitutional amendment that was submitted, passed and ratified in quick succession on November 20. The controversial amendment added three more circumstances where parliamentarians will lose their seat, including if they switch political parties or they are expelled from their political party.
Abdul Raheem has led a PNC meeting for the first time on Sunday since he and President Muizzu met at the President’s Office on Thursday, in the first face-to-face meeting between the top leaders of the PNC since the latter’s son Ibrahim Faisal was sacked from the cabinet in January.
However, the President’s Office disclosed little information regarding the meeting.
Heena Waleed, the chief spokesperson at the President’s Office, told Sun that the two met to discuss key bills the government plans to submit to the Parliament this year. She said the meeting was also attended by Falah.
In an interview to a local media outlet that day, Abdul Raheem, who had been on vacation in Malaysia at the time, publicly admitted to frayed ties between him and President Muizzu for the first time, commenting that “obviously this wouldn’t have happened if we were on good terms.”
But he made no further public comment regarding the decision after that, but was visibly absent from many of PNC’s events – up until his meeting with President Muizzu last week.