Senate to hold government scrutiny on Wednesday
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The Senate has agreed to open a debate to scrutinise the government next Wednesday as proposed by the Cabinet.
Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanich said yesterday he had been informed unofficially by PM’s Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn that the Cabinet would not be able to attend the Senate meeting on Friday and Saturday as requested by the Senate. So the Senate’s general debate on the government’s performance would take place on Wednesday before the closure of the parliamentary session on the following day.
“To my understanding, the government does not want the Senate to hold its debate before the opposition’s censure debate, for political reasons. The government might not want to reveal its clarifications to the Senate and let the opposition use it in the censure debate,” Nikom said.
Nikom said he would raise the issue at the Senate whip’s meeting today and discuss the time management of the meeting. Initially, the Senate would have 12 hours to hold the debate, so each senator can speak for 10 minutes and the Cabinet would have a total of two hours to clarify.
He said about 50-60 senators have registered to speak.
The censure debate by the opposition has been set for Sunday and Monday while the voting has been set for Tuesday.
To the question of whether the ministers refused to attend the Senate’s debate this week as they were avoiding Pitak Siam’s rally, Varathep yesterday declined to answer but said it would be for the ministers in charge to say.
Meanwhile, Democrat MP Natt Bantadtan said after a party meeting that Cabinet ministers might use a tactic of protecting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra by answering questions for her if other ministers are mentioned. Therefore, the Democrats would study the law carefully and insist that the scrutinised person must answer the questions himself or herself.
In a related development, Deputy House Speaker Wisut Chainarun said the Parliament’s police had rehearsed security measures for restoring peace in the House chamber. It was to prevent a repeat of the chaos that erupted on an occasion in May when opposition MPs threw papers into the face of the House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont and pulled him from his seat.
The rehearsal included mild measures to harsh measures requiring a troublemaker to be carried out of the chamber, a source told The Nation. The rehearsal was done in a short period and the media were not allowed to witness it.
The House meeting in May descended into chaos when opposition MPs showed dissatisfaction with Somsak’s performance as the meeting chairman during a discussion on the timeline for the debate of the Reconciliation Bill.
