Ordinances to rule

The power to promulgate presidential ordinances has been recklessly used over the years, and by all at the helm. No political party has ruled the country can evade the blame. At a recent meeting of the Senate’s Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, opposition members took the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to task for “ruling through ordinances” — only to be left red-faced when reminded by a ministry official that 26 ordinances had been promulgated each year on an average over the past one decade when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) had been in power. The Constitution provides room for legislating through an ordinance, but not without proper justification. According to Article 89 (1), “The President may, except when the Senate or National Assembly is not in session if satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action, make and promulgate an Ordinance as the circumstances may require.”

Unfortunately, legislating through ordinances has become a compulsion for the incumbent government which has had to deal with a hostile opposition since the day the lower house of parliament came into being. Pandemonium is the order of the day in the National Assembly. Legislators hardly seem to have any business other than slinging mud at their rivals on one issue or the other. The treasury and opposition members appear to be locked in a duel of who can shout louder, and who can come up with a wittier jaw-breaking reply — completely neglecting that it is the legislation, the core business of parliament, that is the only sufferer of a non-stop war of words between them. If not at a standstill, parliament is moving at a snail’s pace. The legislative bills passed by the lower house in the first six months of its constitution can be counted on finger tips. The situation has only improved slightly then onwards. Both the government and the opposition must side-foot their egos and ensure a fully functional parliament. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2019.

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