MPs finished debating the sugar bribery scandal yesterday and adopted the amended report of the joint committee on Trade and Agriculture into contaminated sugar imports (see P7).
The report had called for the DCI and EACC to investigate claims by two MPs in August that they had been offered bribes to reject the report.
Yesterday the MPs adopted the report but with the proviso that only the 10 MPs named in the affair should be investigated.
But why should MPs dictate to police who should be investigated and who should not be investigated?
Parliament has certain legal powers, such as the right to summon officials to appear before committees, but it cannot instruct the police and the EACC what to do.
There is a constitutional balance of powers between the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Some grey areas where these powers overlap are still being clarified.
But telling the police not to investigate possible criminal activity by MPs, other than the 10 mentioned in the report, is clearly excessive on the part of the National Assembly.
Quote of the day: "Money is like manure. It stinks when you pile it; it grows when you spread it."
JRD Tata
The Indian founder of Tata Motors died on November 29, 1993
