Parliament on Monday delayed the vote on whether four government ministers will be impeached until after all 11 ministers who are under scrutiny for mismanaged budgets have been questioned by the lawmakers.
The ministers of economy, finance, information and culture, and mines appeared before parliament on Monday to answer for their ministries failure to spend more than 50 percent of their respective development budgets in 1390 (March 2011-March 2012).
A planned impeachment vote on the four ministers was delayed until the remaining seven ministers of interior, defence, water and energy, education, urban development, higher education, and counter-narcotics have all been questioned on the same budget mismanagement charge.
Of the four ministers who appeared today, two claimed the accusation against their ministry was false and two said they could not spend the allocated amount because they never received the funds.
"In 1390, we spent 68 percent of our development budget," Finance Minister Anwarul Haq Ahadi told the lawmakers.
Economic Minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal said, "We have made the economic strategy of the government for four years and we spent 87 percent of our development budget [in 1390]."
Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said that the ministry – which apparently only spent 23 percent of its development budget – struggled financially after some foreign companies did not pay money owed.
"Some of the money existed in the budget [plan] but we did not receive it and two foreign companies refused to pay money to our ministry," he told parliament.
The Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdom Rahin made a similar complaint.
"The money existed on paper, but the ministry did not receive the money and so our actual budget was less," he said.
The lawmakers were divided on whether to hold the confidence vote today or at a later date. Some were angered by the decision to put off the vote with suggestions that some of the MPs were "working for" the ministers.
"Some of the lawmakers are dealing with the ministers and supporting the ministers. They were not representing the people of Afghanistan; they were working for the ministers," MP Shukria Barekzai said.
Kandahar MP Mohammad Naaem Lalai Hamidzai agreed.
"Unfortunately, a number of lawmakers acted with the ministers in the parliament. This is worrisome and should be avoided," he said.
MP Fatima Aziz said it was not clear what was the result of the day's session.
"Unfortunately, it ended without any result and it's against the rules of the procedures of the house. I thought that we were starting voting for the ministers [today]," she said.
The remaining seven ministers will appear before parliament on Wednesday and Saturday this week.