Parliament's five permanent committees have 141 bills to work on during the five-month legislative recess.
Of these, 56 are with the services committee, 29 with the legislative and legal affairs, 26 with the foreign affairs, defence and national security committee, 17 are with public utilities and environment affairs committee, and 13 are with the financial and economic affairs committee.
Based on directives from Parliament chairwoman Fouzia Zainal, all the committees will continue meeting following next week’s Eid Al Fitr holiday.
The National Assembly – Parliament and the Shura Council – started its legislative recess on Tuesday and will continue until October.
“We deal with issues related to health, labour and education and they are Bahrain’s biggest sectors, which are also affected by Covid-19, so officials are finding difficulty scheduling meetings even remotely to push ahead with things,” said services committee chairman Mamdooh Al Saleh.
“This is also good as it ensures the legislation is not rushed and things are done properly.
“But we will have to meet the deadline set to refer all topics for scheduling in October even if we take the extra mile to meet after working hours.”
However, foreign affairs, defence and national security committee chairman Mohammed Al Sissi said a slow government response to draft legislation was expected as they are fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We can draw up a legislation, give our own opinion and decide on the direction, but it is the government that is going to implement so they need to give input,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Shura Council yesterday said it approved 81 legislation during the current term while approving seven proposed bills presented by its members.
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