Editorial
Taking up interim govt ordinances
Bipartisanship in scrutiny process is welcome
We applaud the announcement that parliament will constitute a 15-member special committee, including senior lawmakers from the opposition as well as governing benches, to swiftly determine as to which of the ordinances passed by the out-going caretaker government are to be ratified and signed into law.
Needless to say, the legislative branch is the appropriate forum for deciding the fate of the ordinances, and we would welcome the parliament's coming into a full play in making such determination.
Indeed, we would urge the government to place all 122 of the ordinances promulgated by the caretaker government before the 15-member committee and then the full parliament for scrutiny, not merely the 45 that have been singled out by an expert committee formed by the government, which gave the executive too much control over the process.
The key to the process is bipartisanship and transparency, and it is crucial that the scrutiny be undertaken with the utmost openness and seriousness. Equally crucial is that the disposition of the 122 ordinances be completed without delay, and thus we are glad to see the issue being given the urgency it deserves.
We hope that the special committee and then the full parliament will give the ordinances full and exhaustive scrutiny. Each ordinance needs to be examined individually to see whether it is in the public interest and what the consequences will be if it is passed into law. Just as they cannot be accepted without scrutiny, they should not be rejected out of hand without scrutiny, either. Each should stand or fall solely on its merits.
In this regard, we would like to comment, specifically, on the Right to Information ordinance. It is our earnest hope that the parliament would move quickly to take up this ordinance for consideration leading to its prompt adoption into law. It will be squarely in the public interest to be doing so. It may have been promulgated by the caretaker government, but only after wide-ranging discussion with political parties, government officials, civil society, and all other relevant stakeholders.
The right to information goes to the heart of transparency and accountability, and is the cornerstone of good governance that we believe this government is committed to, as is evidenced by the AL's making RTI a manifesto promise to the voters.
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