Parliament Members (MPs) on Sunday accused President Ashraf Ghani of violating the law after he refused to accept their decision to dismiss seven ministers who failed to spend their development budget.
MPs said they summoned and dismissed the ministers in order to help bring reforms and to eliminate corruption. They said government should have accepted their decision.
“These ministers still sign contracts and do other work. But when they have left, what will happen to the contract. This is a problem,” said Nader Khan Katawazai, an MP.
“Government violates the law and the issue of dismissed ministers is a live example,” said Abdalullah Mohammadi, another MP.
“To respect the constitution and parliament, the president should introduce seven new ministers to empower rule of law,” said Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, speaker of the house.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) meanwhile said it is waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision on the fate of its minister Salahuddin Rabbani, who was among those dismissed.
“We have sent a letter to parliament’s international relations commission and that means we have opened a case that says the fate of the finance minister should be reviewed. Now we are waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Khairullah Azad, deputy spokesman of MoFA.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently said that MoFA had spent 73 percent of its development budget and that judicial departments should decide about the fate of the minister.
A number of MPs also said parliament must revise its decision on the finance minister.
“The international relations commission and other commissions of parliament should gather MPs comments and review the fate of the finance minister,” MP Farhad Azimi said.