The Foundation participates in a roundtable discussion on legislative oversight in the Maldives
On 6 October 2019, the Max Planck Foundation participated in a roundtable discussion with parliamentarians of the People’s Majlis (Parliament of the Maldives) on legislative oversight in the Maldives. It was attended by the Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Committees of the People’s Majlis. The roundtable was inaugurated by Jörn Rohde, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Sri Lanka and the Maldives; he addressed the parliamentarians and shared his experiences of working in the German Federal Parliament.
The parliamentarians engaged in lively discussions facilitated by members of the Foundation about the various roles and tasks required of lawmakers. In particular, the roundtable focused on the representative, legislative and oversight roles that parliamentarians perform. It emphasised the importance of public participation in the law-making process, discussed tools at the parliamentarians’ disposal for parliamentary oversight of executive action, highlighted the manner in which parliamentarians may initiate legislative proposals, and examined the elements involved in both designing legislation and evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of legislation. In addition, the roundtable included an interactive discussion, examining comparative examples, on the ways in which parliamentarians can strengthen the working of Parliamentary Committees using mechanisms such as agenda setting, increasing public participation, tracking implementation of Committee recommendations and improving the quality of Committee reports.
The roundtable provided a forum for Members of the People’s Majlis to share both their experiences and the practical challenges that they face in their daily work. This is the first roundtable held in partnership with the People’s Majlis as part of the German Federal Foreign Office funded project, “Strengthening the Rule of Law in the Maldives“.