The Independent Commission Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution (ICOIC) on Monday marked the Constitution Approval Week in Kabul, where they said government departments in the last few years have ignored and violated a number of articles of the Constitution.
According to the commission, ambiguity in the foreign policy, over six years' delay for approval of some laws in parliament, continuation of parliament working after its legal period, delays in presidential elections, incompleteness of the Supreme Court members, and issuance of many legislative decrees by President Ashraf Ghani, are the violation claims which have been made so far.
“The Constitution clearly mentions the authority of president and parliament. But many problems have been seen to have occurred in the implementation of these articles,” Abdul Rauf Herawi, a member of the overseeing commission said.
In the meantime, some legal experts said issuance of dozens of legislative decrees by the president and establishment of new government departments have created problems in the country.
Recently, Hydrocarbon Law was approved, based on a legislative decree and the Fuel and Gas Regulatory department was established, which according to legal experts has provided the context for competition between private sector and government in the market.
“The president’s legislative decree on establishment of the Fuel and Gas department has increased our problems. Even the fuel and gas sector, in which $6 billion so far has been invested, is faced with challenges,” Abdul Tawab Arash, a legal advisor to the Fuel and Gas Importers Union said.
“The current and former governments failed to consider the necessary conditions based on the Constitution articles, while issuing legislative decrees and this issue creates challenges,” MP Ramazan Bashardost said.
The current Constitution is the seventh Constitution implemented in the country. This Constitution was approved in 2003 which has 12 chapters and 162 articles.
Legal experts and lawyers said to date most of the violations of the Constitution articles have been committed by government.