Over half of Kosovo Assembly deputies are passive

Over half of Kosovo's Assembly deputies are passive in exercising their office as MPs, whether they participate in plenary sessions, parliamentary questions or their speeches in the Assembly.

According to KDI's “My Vota”, there are only two deputies -- AAK's Muharrem Nitaj and Salih Zyba of Vetevendosje -- who have participated 100 per cent in plenary sessions. While Ramiz Kelmendi and Teuta Rugova from LDK, MPs with the least part of the hearings are. First with 46 percent, Rugova with 54 percent participation.

Among the MPs who have been the most regular participants in the hearings are Ahmet Isufi, Andy Hoti, Avullah Hoti, Bilal Sheriff and Cameron Shala, with 98 percent attendance.

Remove parliamentary questions are not even better. According to KDI, only 45 MPs have raised parliamentary questions in this legislature, until 62.5 per cent of MPs have posed no parliamentary questions.

Albert Krasniqi, from the Kosovo Democratic Institute, has said that if over half of the deputies are not active in the exercise of the Parliament's post, in keeping the Government accountable with their physical presence in the country, with their participation in the polls, so much the Parliament, which is passive and lags behind in realising its programme.

“on the basis of monitoring that we have done the Kosovo Assembly, we see there that over half of Kosovo's Parliament deputies are passive, either by the number of shortages, not participating in the Assembly or even by not presenting questions to members of the government cabinet and asking for accounts from them. If MPs do not exercise questions because the ministers are not there, they can also do so through written form, by sending written questions to ministers, or even by asking with great responsibility from the ministers themselves and the prime minister, to ask even to fire those ministers who ignore the role of the UN”, Krasniqi said.

According to him, with this trend, but also the degradation of the parliamentary language, the role of the Parliament is fading daily and more towards citizen representation. Krasniqi says the inactivity of MPs also brings a major problem.

The main problem posed by the non-participation of deputies in the assembly and voting is that they are placing decision-making to a group of forty MPs in the Assembly. There are these 40 deputies who are active, are in the Assembly and set up all policies which then society has to implement and thus narrow to a close group of people. It is different when 120 MPs are in the Parliament and argue about a policy and ultimately decide what is best for society or not. In this way we would have better laws”, Krasniqi added.

Krasniqi has added that financial measures must be taken for the discipline of MPs, but also the reduction of the MP's absence to receive the mandate -- from length to three months.

MPs have their reasons for this approach to MPs. One of the most active deputies, who has a participation in the 96 per cent hearings, PDK MP Ganimete Musliu, says of Kosova Preress, that the lack of ministers is one of the main reasons for this password of MPs.

I don't think the problem lies with the MPs, but even at the hearing, but even earlier, it was an issue that in parliamentary questions, 62 percent of the MPs can't even ask parliamentary questions. Given the experience that I have and have often made good parliamentary questions, more than 80 percent have not received answers in the Kosovo Assembly. Normally he loses his motive because we're asking questions but we're talking to ourselves in a way, as ministers are reluctant to come and answer. I understand the ministers' agenda, but I can't understand that a minister doesn't have time to come to the session to answer parliamentary questions, given that they have large cabinets with many deputy ministers and advisers and I have to delegate jobs at least when we have session”, Musliu stressed.

However, Vetevendosje parliamentary group chief Glauk Konjufca thinks the party's security of votes is allowing some MPs to be passive.

“I think the biggest defect regarding the way MPs operate in the Kosovo Assembly is the fact of how they yoke. With the fact that we have some kind of tendency that the party has to secure the votes in a way that gives you some immunity from inaction. So it means that even if you're not active, even if you don't represent the people the way you should not, because many of those who haven't spoken can become deputies. You remember Azem Syla always won without talking. So there are many others like him, who are typical examples of the MP who never had the chance to hear the voice in the Kosovo Assembly”, Conjufca said.

Even Konjufca agrees that the lack of ministers at hearings to answer MPs' questions is one of the reasons MPs have lost the motive to ask questions and be active.

“Yes, I agree with you this is another aspect of this reason why there is an outstanding passiveity of MPs in the Kosovo Assembly. However, this applies only to the opposition, but in terms of power, those who are missing are also the most. So somehow they don't perceive their mission that they've taken from the people as government controllers, as government challengers, as let's say Government monitors, but they see themselves as legitimising the decisions the Government brings to the Assembly”, he added.

MP Konjufca stressed that it is very difficult to sanction MPs by financial means, but why in principle it is for that.