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Parliament fails to swear in Independent Commissions as House fails quorum

Storyline:National News

Jawaari-Parliament today failed to swear in the Independent Electoral Commission and Federalism and Boundaries Commission due to lack of quorum.

Only 126 MPs showed up failing to meet the minimum threshold of 139 needed to conduct house business. There are 275 lawmakers in total.

The speaker Prof. Mohamed Osman Jowari lashed out at the MPs warning them against failing to live up to their constitutional mandate. Jowari also warned the lawmakers that disciplinary action would be taken against them if they continued with the same trend. However no action has been taken before against any MP despite failing to attend sessions on a number of times.

The Federal parliament will mark its third anniversary next month but there will be little to write home about since there is a huge backlog of parliamentary business yet to be disposed of. A number of key legislations necessary for the federalization process and preparation for elections in 2016 have not been passed.

With a year remaining before its term comes to a close, serial absenteeism from the house is likely to bog down not only parliamentary business but development in the country at large.