Summon more Cabinet members, says Gargash

The Minister of State for FNC Affairs urges members to make greater use of their power to summon Cabinet members for questioning.

ABU DHABI // The Minister of State for FNC Affairs has urged members to make greater use of their power to summon Cabinet members for questioning.

In response to questions today, Dr Anwar Gargash noted that not once in his four years in the post had a member asked a minister about progress on the council's previous recommendations.

"What happens to recommendations depends on what they are," Dr Gargash said. "Each one has a different procedure."

Rashed Al Shuraiqi (Ras Al Khaimah) called for a "clear and specific" mechanism to put recommendations into practice.

"The Cabinet should provide a specific timeline," Mr Al Shuraiqi said.

"Some recommendations have been under discussion for a long time without real actions. We want to see results."

Dr Gargash insisted Cabinet took FNC recommendations seriously. It had responded to 24 of the 30 recommendations made by the previous council, which he described as "reasonable and good".

"Some are more detailed and require changing the country's strategies, which takes time," he said.

Ahmed Al Shamsi (Ajman) also called for clearer procedures and deadlines.

"There should be a medium for ministries to notify the FNC about their timeline and the number of hours the ministries spend working on them," Mr Al Shamsi said.

His call was echoed by Hamad Al Rahoumi (Dubai).

Dr Abdulrahim Al Shahin (RAK) said the Cabinet should also be required to give reasons for rejecting recommendations, as required by the constitution.

Some issues languished on the Cabinet agenda for years without being dealt with, Dr Al Shahin said.