The Lower House of Parliament on Monday’s session harshly reacted to President Ghani’s remarks about the authority of the House of Representatives to approve the draft budget and their request for personal projects in the fiscal year of 1400.
Mir Rahman Rahmani, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said that the president’s remarks showed a “dark and ignorant view” of the law.
He stressed that the approval and adjustment of the draft budget is the exclusive competence of the House of Representatives, and that the House does not allow anyone with a personal interpretation of the law to embezzle public assets or use them for micro-programs, campaigns and group purposes.
According to Mir Rahmani, during a visit to Nangarhar last Thursday, President Ghani said that members of the House of Representatives had requested 2,000 personal projects that should be included in the draft budget for the 1400 fiscal year.
Rahmani said that according to the constitution, the budget is the responsibility of the government, but that it is up to the House of Representatives to decide and approve it.
He called on the Ministry of Finance to resubmit the previously rejected draft budget to the House of Representatives by amending and implementing the proposed amendments.
The speaker of the House of Representatives said that the amended draft budget should include a reasonable increase in the salaries of government employees.
The House of Representatives has previoualy approved a plan to standardize the salaries of government employees.
