KABUL (PAN): Differences among Wolesi Jirga members widened on Saturday when explanations offered by ministers summoned for failing to spend most of development budgets in 2011 were accepted by a majority members.
Some lawmakers accused their colleagues of accepting bribes from the ministers and keeping their party affiliations supreme over official obligations.
The lower house has summoned 11 ministers for under-spending their development budgets in 2011. Nine ministers have so far testified before the house.
On Saturday, Information and Culture Minister Syed Makhdoom Rahin and Mines Minister Wahidullah Shahrani testified before the house and their explanations were accepted by a majority members.
Earlier in the week, Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak and Counternarcotics Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbil also satisfied Wolesi Jirga members.
Mohammad Naeem Lalai, a lawmaker from southern Kandahar province, alleged some lawmakers had accepted bribes and privileges from the ministers summoned to save their skin.
Without naming anyone, he said others accepted the ministerial explanations to protect their party affiliations. The lawmaker called latest decisions by the house as dictatorship, alleging the house had turned into a centre where underhand deals were being struck to make money.
He said the people of Afghanistan should defend their rights by themselves because their public representatives had no interest to solve their problems.
"These shameless lawmakers have no concern for the problems facing the country and they are promoting their personal interests," he said. Lalai called on the Afghans not to vote in the 2015 parliamentary elections for those who played with their destiny.
A lawmaker from Kabul Fatima Nazari said the explanations were accepted under "secret deals" between some lawmakers and the ministers summoned.
She said the house in its pervious legislative terms had decided the fate of a summoned minister through bringing a no-confidence vote, but all decisions this time came through the 50-plus one formula that she said contradicted the unknown majority view.
"The parliament of Afghanistan has breached the law today," she remarked, accusing colleagues of benefitting from saving the ministers summoned.
Habibi Danish from northern Takhar said the ministers summoned, knowing some MPs possessed documents about their wrongdoing, had campaigned to avoid being impeached.
Lawmaker Shakiba Hashmi said it had now become clear that the parliament was rife with corruption like government entities.
She said Rahin and Shahrahi had less votes in their favour in the previous round, but they obtained more on Saturday.
To a question, Hashmi said she alone could not reveal the names of bribed-fed lawmakers and that some like-minded MPs were mulling over the creation of a group to expose them.
She also claimed some ministers had approached and offered her money in return for voting in their favour, but she rejected the offer. She would not go into details.
