MPs accuse president of ‘national treason’

KABUL members on Wednesday accused President Ashraf Ghani of committing a national treason after he failed to introduce a cabinet.

The unity government leaders, President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, were inaugurated on Sept. 29, when Ghani promised he would introduce cabinet nominees for a vote of confidence to parliament in 45 days.

On Tuesday, the president marked in his first 100 days in office, with a poll showing his popularity has sharply declined after the unity government made uneven progress in three months.

The lower house once set President Ghani a week-long deadline to introduce cabinet picks to the assembly for a trust vote. But the deadline passed unmet.

Then the assembly sent a delegation to hold talks with the president and the chief executive officer on the delayed cabinet.

At today’s session, Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi said President Ghani had promised to lawmakers that he would introduce the cabinet in a week’s time.

“Today his deadline expires, but no candidate arrived in the house. Now it is up to you (MPs) what decision you take,” Ibrahimi told the house.

Outspoken lawmaker Ramazan Bashardost from Kabul said: “It is not a national unity government, but a barbaric regime. Now the time has come where we should take a decision.”

“The nation is on the verge of destruction, but they are engaged in a power struggle that this person should be from this tribe and that person from that province.”

The MP said one should ask Ghani how many votes he had collected to become a president. “We can say it is a national treason under Article 69 of the Constitution.”

The article says “accusations of crime against humanity, national treason or crime can be leveled against the President by one-thirds members of the Wolesi Jirga.”

The article adds “if two-thirds Wolesi Jirga members vote for charges to be brought forth, the assembly shall convene a Grand Council (Loya Jirga) within one month.

“If the Grand Council approves the accusation by a two-thirds majority of votes, the President is then dismissed, and the case is referred to a special court.”

Bashardost said the unity government had been formed against the Constitution in the US Embassy in Kabul and the government had no credibility in public eyes.

He asked his colleagues to endorse his views and sign a petition in which he had accused the president of “a national treason.”

Bashardost placed the document on a table in front of the administration board and asked MPs to sign it.

The petition was signed by MPs Bashardost (Kabul), Batktash Seyawosh (Kabul), Ghulam Hussain Nasiri (Maidan Wardak), Syed Mohammad Musa Janab (Badghis), Abdul Rahim Ayubi (Kandahar), Bibi Hamidi (Kandahar), Latif Padram (Badakhshan), Azizi Jales (Sar-i-Pul), Zakia Sangin (Parwan) and Abbas Ibrahimzada (Balkh).

But Speaker Ibrahimi said the issue should be included in the house agenda and should be discussed from a legal perspective before making a decision.

Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanafi from western Herat province said the president was running government’s affairs against Article 160 of the Constitution.

“The Constitution gives him 30 days, but it has been more than 90 days, the president is yet to start his job in a right way. He should have at least introduced a few cabinet nominees.”

Hanafi suggested lawmakers to continue thumbing desks in protest until the government introduced cabinet nominees.

Some lawmakers suggested the president and the chief executive should be impeached and a Loya Jirga called into session.

Speaker Ibrahimi said the Wolesi Jirga had tried its level best to convince the government to introduce the cabinet, but it did not happen. “Whatever the consequences are, the government will be responsible,” he remarked.

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