Assembly to go live again
Speaker has the discretion to include media and public in the proceedings
Live Coverage 25 April, 2011 – The proceedings of the National Assembly will once again be covered live on television, when the seventh Parliament session commences next month.
“Discussions of bills are very important and people should be involved as far as possible,” said assembly speaker, Jigme Tshultim.
He said the sessions will be broadcast live, but the members should ensure deliberations are pursued to fulfill the right mandates, uplifting the principle of transparency and not to please their constituencies or vote banks.
“Unless there are matters involving national security or sensitive issues being discussed, there is no problem in airing the proceedings live,” he said.
The decision followed after some members raised the need to reconsider broadcast of assembly proceedings live on TV during the pre-agenda meeting for the upcoming session held last week. It was stopped since the fourth session.
“It was left up to the speaker to decide,” he said, adding Constitution empowered the speaker to decide whether to include media and public during the sessions.
The National Assembly Act also states the speaker can bar the media and the public from all or any part of the proceedings, which shall otherwise be conducted in public, in the interest of public order, national security or “any other situation where publicity would seriously prejudice public interest”.
Except for the opening and closing events of the Parliament, the assembly’s live TV coverage was stopped after some members argued the live coverage served more as a distraction for members, who were focused on pleasing the viewers, rather than contributing to discussion of bills.
While the change of mind was welcomed by many Kuensel spoke to, a few still feel the decision to ban live coverage was wise.
“The media is pretty new in Bhutan and having to face it up live in such an important forum made the members more presentation-conscious,” said a media practitioner. “They were totally losing focus on the deliberations.”
Meanwhile, about six bills have spilled over from the previous sessions to be deliberated in a joint sitting during the seventh session to begin on May 20.
During the last session, the National Council resolved to submit the anti corruption amendment bill, child care and protection bill, penal code amendment bill and civil and criminal procedure code for joint sitting, while the National Assembly submitted the water bill and the financial services bill.
The consumer protection bill and Bhutan institute of medical sciences bill, supposed to be introduced in the National Council in the last session, might be taken up by the two houses this time.
However, the tobacco control Act, that conjured much discussion in recent times, may not be up for amendment in the upcoming session, as suggested by certain section of the society.
“It’s important for an Act to remain in force for at least one year, according to the National Assembly Act,” said the speaker, adding the Act was generic and there was a need for further rules to be put in place first.
“We should first try and see if the rules work,” he said.
By Kesang Dema in Kuensel