Parliament of the Maldives has approved an extension of the time allocated for questioning ministers.
The Parliament passed the extension as approved by the General Purpose Committee with 23 votes in favour. Many parliamentarians complain that they have little time to ask questions to ministers on various issues when summoned to the parliament. Members are given 20 minutes to ask questions of ministers, according to the parliamentary regulations. As such, the member who expressed interest in the matter gets to ask two questions, and others are given a chance after that.
Therefore, Speaker Mohamed Nasheed asked the General Purpose Committee to seek a solution to the matter. The committee extended the current time for questioning ministers by another 10 minutes. However, the time allotted for questioning ministers will be extended to 30 minutes if there is no objection from the ministers. They can respond to questions in writing or in person in Parliament. The ministers are given a 14 days notice to answer the questions.