KABUL - Wolesi Jirga, or the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday rejected the 2011 annual accounts of several ministries and decided to summon 11 ministers for failing to spend their development budget.

The decision came after Wolesi Jirga Finance and Budget Commission member Sadiq Ahmad Osmani briefed the house on utilization of last year's development funds by different ministries and government departments.
Osmani said the issue was thoroughly discussed by 18 parliamentary commissions, which planned to summon the ministers who spent less than 50 percent of their development budgets.

Deputy Speaker Abdul Zahir Qadir, who chaired the session, confirmed that ministers of defense, interior, commerce, energy and water, education, urban development, mines, higher education, counternarcotics and information had been summoned.

In its report on last year’s budget, the commission said in November that Ministries Water and Energy, Education, Urban Development, Interior Affair, Economy, Higher Education, Mines, Commerce and Industries, Counter-Narcotics, Parliamentarian Affair, Defense and Information could not spend even 50 percent of their developmental budgets.

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission, Afghanistan National Standards Authority, Central Statistics Office, the presidential office, Meshrano Jirga and the National Directorate of Local Governance also failed to use their outlays.

Additionally, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, Canalization Department, Breshna Shirkat, High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption, Department of Geology and Cartography, Afghanistan Atomic Energy Commission, Independent Human Right Commission and the Commission for the Implementation of Constitution could not utilize half of their funds. (Pajhwok)