HoR Question-Answer session with PM: Maximum 2 questions; Time reduced to 1 minute

Kathmandu: The 36th meeting of the Parliamentary Procedure Advisory Committee has approved the bi-weekly schedule of the House of Representatives (HoR). Sunday’s Committee meeting approved the schedule on Sunday.

The question-and-answer session with the Prime Minister will be made more effective. Previously, a single MP would ask many questions and give long introductions. From now on, each MP can ask a maximum of two questions or speak for no longer than one minute. Earlier, some MPs were submitting as many as eight questions over 12 pages.

‘The trend of MPs speaking and leaving during the meetings has increased. MPs need to dedicate their full time when Parliament is in session. We should not give time for unnecessary work when Parliament is running. At the end of parliamentary sessions, it seems like only a quorum is being met. This is not right,’ said Speaker Devaraj Ghimire,’ We have created a schedule to make it easier for MPs to manage their time. However, there has been no improvement in attendance.’

MP Kataraw Lama pointed out that there is confusion among MPs regarding when and for what purpose they should speak.

‘MPs do not understand when and for what purpose to speak. They need to know which issues are for zero-hour, special debates, or urgent discussions. The Chief Whip or the Parliament Secretariat should provide this understanding. Some MPs speak whenever they feel like it, and there have been rumors that Parliament doesn’t allow them to speak,’ MP Lama said.

Today’s meeting of the House of Representatives includes a question-and-answer session with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Nepali version of the news