ABU DHABI // The minister of cabinet affairs and the education minister both brushed off questions sent to them by the FNC, stating they were not related to their fields of expertise.
Establishing an authority to monitor medicine and food, and monitoring career fairs, the ministers said, was not the job of their ministries.
But two members, Musabah Al Kitbi (Sharjah) and Ahmed Al Shamsi (Ajman), were not pleased with the responses.
"The answer has no relation to the question," Mr Al Shamsi said. "The question is on making this authority, not who is to be in charge of it."
Mohammed Abdullah Al Gargawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, said the question of monitoring medicine should be redirected to the Ministry of Health and that the Ministry of Environment and Water would be responsible for monitoring food.
Mr Al Shamsi also said the response was not in a respectable format.
Saqr Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Labour, did not respond to questions about Emirati employment because he was out of the country.
osalem@thenational.ae
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.