The National Constituent Assembly (NCA) administrative office is preparing to take “punitive measures” against absentee members, according to state news agency TAP.
Independent NCA member Hatem Klai told TAP on Monday that the measures will also apply to withdrawn NCA members and will only tackle absences recorded during the months of July, August, and September.
The disciplinary action would “ensure the commitment of deputies in order to finish the assembly’s mission,” Klai said to TAP.
Multiple attempts to reach the NCA administrative office for comment were unsuccessful.
Article 126 of the assembly’s internal regulations stipulates that assembly members who miss three sessions in one month “without justification” could risk having their salaries “reduced in proportion to the absence period.” The article also provides for the publication of absentee members’ names on the NCA’s website.
Selim Kharrat, director of the NCA monitoring organization Al-Bawsala, described the decision as a “form of pressure” exercised over withdrawn MPs.
“We have for so long urged the NCA to implement this law, but they have never released reports [listing absentee MPs],” Kharrat said.
In a post published on her Facebook page, withdrawn opposition member Karima Souid criticized the decision.
“NCA Speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar, who has always been opposed to transparency regarding NCA activities,” Souid wrote, “has decided, under pressure from Ennahdha, to publish a list of absences during the months of July, August, and September, without taking into account the suspension of the NCA activities and the withdrawal of opposition MPs.”
Opposition members withdrew from the assembly after the July 25 assassination of NCA member Mohamed Brahmi, refusing to participate in meetings and, according to them, forgoing their salaries. Following their withdrawal, Ben Jaafar announced a suspension of NCA activities in early August, a move which lasted more than a month and was deemed illegal by Ennahdha.
Withdrawn NCA member Nadia Chaabane said the punitive measures will not affect her or her protesting colleagues, since most of them have already abandoned their salaries.
In her post, Souid called for the publication of absent members’ names since November 22, 2011, the entirety of the NCA’s tenure. Poor attendance has been a long-standing complaint of NCA observers.
For original article see: http://www.tunisia-live.net/2013/10/08/nca-to-take-punitive-measures-aga...
