AMMAN -- Members of Parliament on Wednesday sharply criticised a report released recently by Ammannet that tallied deputies' attendance and number of remarks during the July 1-August 10 extraordinary session.
"The survey is neither objective nor professional and has nothing to do with attendance or any other facts in the House's meetings," MP Mamdouh Abbadi told The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Wednesday, asserting that the aim of the report was to produce biased statistics.
The report indicated that 21 lawmakers made no remarks during the 18 meetings of the 15th Lower House's extraordinary session, while Sleiman Khalaf was the most active deputy, making 62 remarks, followed by MP Mahmoud Kharabsheh with 57.
"Making remarks during the meetings is not important. What is important is the content of these remarks and their influence on the progress of MPs' deliberations," said Abbadi.
"Most of those who made remarks did not change a letter of the decisions made during the session."
His colleague MP Samih Bino agreed.
He said remarks that have no value do not reflect the activity of deputies, pointing out that most remarks were made by experienced MPs and had an influence on the House's decisions.
According to the survey, conducted by Ammannet writers Hamza Al Soud and Mohannad Saraawi, two MPs - Adel Meshri and Mejhem Kreisha - did not attend any of the House meetings, while a total of 12 MPs attended all sessions, including the August 3 session which was cancelled due to lack of quorum.
Abbadi, however, said Meshri and Kreisha did not attend the meetings due to health reasons as the former is suffering from diabetes along with other diseases, while the latter underwent open heart surgery.
"It is important to mention the medical condition of these two deputies," said Bino, who is a member of the Lower House legal and administrative committees.
"The survey's statements may be correct, but it is unfair to mention any information without justifying it."
The report also found that the Islamic Action Front was the most active bloc, with attendance for its six representatives reaching 87 per cent. The National Brotherhood bloc's 20 representatives ranked second with 82 per cent, followed by the 54-member National Current bloc with 76 per cent.
Among women MPs, Deputy Nariman Rousan only attended five meetings, while Deputy Reem Razzaq was the most committed, attending 17 meetings, according to the report.
Razzaq also made the highest number of remarks among female deputies, registering 20 remarks during the extraordinary session, followed by MP Falak Jamaani with 16, while Rousan and Tharwat Amr made only one remark each.
By Nour Suleiman
© Jordan Times 2009
