Draft RTI Bill

August 26, 2013Legislature14 Comments

The government will table the Right to Information Bill during the first session of the Second Parliament. The cabinet is still discussing the draft bill, and would appreciate your comments. Thanks in advance.

Draft Right to Information Bill, 2013

PREAMBLE

Whereas, the Right to Information upholds the principles of gross national happiness through good governance, it is essential to ensure an informed citizenry, to secure access to information held by public authorities, and to promote governmental transparency and accountability; and

Whereas, Section 3 under Article 7 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan guarantees the right to information to a Bhutanese citizen;

The Parliament of Bhutan at its _____ Session, on the _____ Day of the _____ Month of the ____________________ Year of the Bhutanese Calendar, corresponding to the _____ Day of __________ 20__, hereby enacts the Right to Information Act, as follows:

CHAPTER 1 – PRELIMINARY

Short Title and Commencement

1. This Act shall:

(1) be called the “Right to Information Act”;

(2) come into force on the _____ Day of the _____ Month of the ____________________ Year of the Bhutanese Calendar, corresponding to the _____ Day of __________ 20__.

Scope

2. This Act shall:

(1) extend to all citizens of Bhutan; and

(2) all branches and levels of government, including the executive, legislative, judiciary and military as well as private bodies carrying out public functions or receiving public funds.

Construction

3. In this Act, the singular shall mean plural and masculine shall mean feminine wherever applicable.

Repeal

4. The provisions of existing laws and regulations that are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.

Inviting questions

February 12, 2013Legislature8 Comments

The 10th and final session of the 1st Parliament got underway last Friday. During this session, the National Assembly will discuss just two bills: Contract Bill of Bhutan, and Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill. In addition, the National Assembly will consider the National Council's comments on Road Bill and Domestic Violence Prevention Bill which were adopted by the Assembly in the 9th session. The Disaster Management Bill will be discussed in a joint sitting to iron out differences between the two houses. Question Hour, when MPs get to question the government, are held on Tuesdays and Fridays. I've prepared some questions, but…

Ambassador for life?

July 12, 2012Legislature126 Comments

Should Parliament make the Prime Minister GNH Ambassador for Life? The proposal to make the Prime Minister GNH Ambassador for Life was tabled by the Speaker. But it was not discussed in the National Assembly. Yet, the proposal was forwarded to the National Council. And it was almost included in the Assembly’s resolutions as a proposal that had, more or less, been accepted. The Speaker also made indirect reference to the proposal in his address during this session’s closing ceremony. So should Parliament make the Prime Minister GNH Ambassador for Life? No. First, the Parliament did not follow due…

Extraordinary

July 5, 2012Government, Legislature21 Comments

Something extraordinary took place in the National Assembly last Tuesday. The government introduced the Land Bill 2012 in the Assembly. But they did not move a motion to deliberate the Bill, as was expected. Nor did they move a motion to withdraw the Bill in accordance with legislative procedure. Instead, the government proposed that the next Parliament deliberate the Bill. And the National Assembly endorsed the government's proposal. So what's out of the ordinary? One, the government introduced a bill that they never intended to discuss. But why would the government go through the trouble of introducing a bill,…

The power of the land

July 4, 2012Government, Legislature33 Comments

The following is a translation of my statement in the National Assembly yesterday: Today we are discussing a matter of profound significance – land. The historic First Parliament of Bhutan has already deliberated many issues of great importance. Today’s topic of discussion, concerning the amendment of the Land Act, is also extremely important. The decisions we take will have a long-term impact, for better or for worse, on our country and our people. It may appear that our kingdom has been blessed with plenty of land. This is true, but the amount of land actually available for agriculture and…

Just shameful

June 30, 2012Government, Legislature21 Comments

The government was caught off guard when the National Assembly passed the Tax Revision Bill last Wednesday. The Assembly threw out all but one of the proposed taxes. And before the government realized it, their proposals to raise taxes on petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG; refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners; meat, fish and eggs; silk fabric, furniture and power chainsaws; and alcohol were emphatically rejected by the National Assembly. The only tax to get through was the "green tax" on new vehicles. But that too suffered a huge setback: the proposed 40% green tax on vehicles (with engines equal…

9th Session

June 7, 2012Legislature28 Comments

The 9th session of the Parliament begins tomorrow with a traditional ceremony, and will continue 11th of July. Here's what we will be discussing... Three bills will be introduced in the National Assembly: Domestic Violence Prevention Bill; Land (Amendment) Bill; and Road Bill. Two bills that were introduced and endorsed by the National Council will be discussed in the National Assembly. They are: National Flag Bill; and Parliamentary Entitlement (Amendment) Bill. The following three bills, which were endorsed by the National Assembly and subsequently discussed in the National Council, will also be discussed to resolve differences, if any, between…

More essential stuff

April 17, 2012Economy, Legislature21 Comments

In my previous post I had proposed that, “the government is getting ready to sell even more foreign currency from our reserves.” What if I am correct? What if the government is, indeed, preparing to sell foreign currency to alleviate the rupee crunch? If so, what is the procedure? Last year, four months ago, the government sold US$ 200 million of our foreign currency reserves. At that time, US$ 200 million worked out to Nu 10.3 billion, which in turn worked out to 14% of our GDP. That was, and is, a lot of money. But no one questioned…

Short and sweet

January 23, 2012Legislature1 Comment

The 8th Session of the Parliament concluded last Friday. It was easily our shortest session: we started on 4 January and ended, barely 12 working days later, on 20 January. But the 8th session was historic. Her Majesty the Queen graced both the opening and closing ceremonies; and the members of Parliament got to offer the Oath of Allegiance to the Throne. Plus, the joint sitting of the Parliament amended the Sales Tax, Customs and Excise Act and the Public Finance Act to align them in accordance with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution which had been rendered…

No. No. No.

January 19, 2012Legislature30 Comments

Is it legal? Is it logical? Is it needed? Three questions that we, members of Parliament, should ask ourselves today when we talk about state funding for political parties during the joint sitting.
Is state funding for political parties legal? No.
Article 15 Section 4(d) of the Constitution clearly forbids political parties from accepting “… money or any assistance other than those contributions made by its registered members”. That’s why the National Assembly decided almost 4 years ago that state funding for political parties would be unconstitutional. That’s why the Election Commission of Bhutan has called state funding for political parties illegal. And that’s why the Chief Justice of Bhutan has declared that state funding for political parties would go against the “spirit of the Constitution”.
Is state funding for political parties logical? No.
A political party, by definition, is a group of people who share the same ideas on how our country should be governed. These people work together to advance their political beliefs by securing the right to make laws, determine policies, and to run our government.
A political party, therefore, needs people. It needs people to support its ideas. And it needs people to finance the party machinery to advance those ideas. So if a party, any party, cannot draw enough people to support it, that party cannot claim to be a true political party.
You may agree with the ideas of a political party. Or you may not. If you do, you may wish to support that party, you may wish to become a member of that party, and you may wish to contribute financially to that party. But if you don’t agree to those ideas, you may wish to support an alternate political party. Or you may wish to stay neutral.
That decision is yours. That decision is your right. You may chose to support one party, or another, or you may chose to stay neutral. I repeat: that decision is your right. And what state funding for political parties threatens to do is infringe on that right. State funding would mean that your tax money will go to support all political parties; whether or not you want to support them, whether or not you agree with their ideas, your tax money will go towards propping them up.
To make matters worse, state funding for political parties would short-circuit the important relationship between political parties and the people. On the one hand, state funding would permit a political party to exist even if its ideas are not generally supported. On the other hand, state funding would mean that a political party does not have to be accountable to people. Instead that political party would essentially become, and should be required to operate as, a government department!

In action or inaction?

January 18, 2012Legislature4 Comments

The National Council and National Assembly will meet in a joint sitting tomorrow to discuss two important matters: the Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill, and state funding for political parties. On the first matter, the Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill, I’m delighted that the National Council has come through. Their recommendations aim to amend the draconian law to make it sensible and implementable. Naturally, I agree with their recommendations. The discussions are not going to be easy. They’re going to be difficult. And complicated. If, at the joint sitting, we agree on the National Council’s proposed amendments, the current ban on…

Controling tobacco control

January 12, 2012Legislature3 Comments

The National Assembly has passed the Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill. 39 MPs voted for the amendment. One MP voted against it. And I abstained. I believe that the proposed amendments do not adequately address the shortcomings of the Tobacco Control Act. That’s why I didn’t vote for the amendment. But I couldn’t vote against the amendment either, as doing so would amount to supporting the existing Tobacco Control Act. That would be unthinkable. And so I abstained. Here’s the main difference between the Act and the amendment: while the existing Act condemns all offenders to prison, regardless of the…

Educating ourselves

January 9, 2012Legislature21 Comments

In 2010, when the government announced that 1,000 acres of land had been allocated to build the Education City, I had worried that, “government policy is being formulated around a particular project.” Formulating government policy to benefit one particular project is never a good idea. There’s simply too much room for conflict of interest, favoritism and corruption. But the government is not satisfied. They want to bestow even more support to the Education City project. They now want to enact a law specifically designed to benefit this one particular project. So today, the government introduced the Education City Bill…

Oath of Allegiance

January 5, 2012Legislature1 Comment

The 8th Session of the Parliament began yesterday. The 8th session will be remembered as, during the inaugural ceremony, the Members of Parliament took the Oath of Allegiance to His Majesty the King. I’m posting a (unofficial) translation of the Oath of Allegiance as a reminder of our promise to serve our King, our country and our people to the best of our abilities. We bow at the feet of the supreme golden throne of the Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the upholder of the Chhoe-sid-nyi of Bhutan. We, the Members of the First Parliament of Bhutan, hereby…

Inviting issues

December 31, 2011Legislature52 Comments

The eighth session of the Parliament will start on 4th January. Here are the bills the National Assembly will discuss: Tobacco Control ( Amendment) Bill 2011 Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Fund Bill 2011 Disaster Management Bill of Bhutan 2011 Education City Bill of Bhutan 2011 And here are the bills that the National Assembly and the National Council will discuss in a joint sitting to resolve differences between the two Houses. Child Adoption Bill of Bhutan 2011 Sales Tax, Customs and Excise (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2011 Public Finance (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2011 Election (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2011…