The Director of Strengthening the Political institution Program the Asia Foundation (TAFO) Hugo Fernandes said to ensure the work quality and effectiveness of member of the national parliament, each ought to have a dedicated adviser.
Fernandes added this would improve the quality of interventions of MP’s because prior to addressing their concerns in the plenary they would have had an opportunity to discuss the issue with an adviser.
“It does not look good when our MP’s interventions are less than adequate,” said Fernandes at Salao Delta Nova, in Dili.
He added that if every commission only has access to one adviser, the one person will not be able to attend to the needs of all the MP’s in the commission.
“If one MP of a commission talks about agriculture, there should be an expert on agriculture recruited. The same thing for health and education.”
In response to this concern, Deputy President of the National Parliament MP Aderito Hugo da Costa said the National Parliament already has advisers, however just to provide legal support on laws and finance.
Da Costa appreciated the suggestion by TAF that each MP should get one adviser, however he warned the initiative would be too costly.
“It’s a good idea but it’s very expensive to pay the advisers,” he said.
He said in the future the National Parliament would think about the suggestion.
