GARDEZ (Pajhwok): The provincial council members and civil society activists in southeastern Paktia province on Saturday suggested the sitting Wolesi Jirga should be dissolved and date for fresh parliamentary elections be announced.
Most of Wolesi Jirga members have inflicted loss to the country instead and the house dissolution is in country’s favour.
According to Article 83 of the Constitution, new Wolesi Jirga members should start work on June 22. The article adds election for the lower house should be held one or two months ahead of the expiry of the parliament term.
Mohammad Rehman Qadari, secretary provincial council, told a press conference the extension tenure of the sitting lower house of parliament would be an illegal step.
He suggested President Ashraf Ghani and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) should specify date for new election and the sitting members should be removed.
Every lawmaker gets 400,000 monthly stipends from the government and if the lower house is scrapped then the nation will spend the saved money on the election instead, he added.
Hafizullah Mubariz, deputy head of provincial council, said that a number of Wolesi Jirga members did several illegal works.
He said that some lawmakers had got appointed their relatives on key posts, which paved way for them to mint money and promote corruption.
Social society activists also aired same reservations by saying that sitting members of lower house should be sent home to save money.
Sayed Jamaluddin Asifkhel, head of Paktia cultural network, said: “We know Wolesi Jirga’s existence of paramount importance in democratic setup but our lawmakers are involved in doing illegal deeds.”
The president, he demanded should scrap the Wolesi Jirga and announce election for fresh ballot without further delay.
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