The participants of the 4th session of the National Consensus Dialogue, which held this evening at Al-Areen Resort Sakhir on Sunday, questioned the status of the Government as a full-fledged participant in its own right. During the session number of participants requested a return to the discussion of points that reached consensus previously, at the second session of the Dialogue, namely; ‘the Government is a participant in its own right’ and ‘the Dialogue’s outcomes will be final’.
Representatives of political associations, the legislative authority, independent parties and the Government attended.
The National Consensus Dialogue official spokesman Isa Abdul Rahman said that the participants were supposed to finalize their discussions regarding the third point which stipulates that the dialogue results would be considered as final.
However, opinions deviated with some participants stressing the necessity to finalise the third point, deeming it unnecessary to discuss the second point involving the government as an essential party.
Others stressed the need to discuss the issue and redraft the formula, replacing “the government as an essential party” by “the regime as an essential party.”
The participants have agreed in previous sessions to adopt the concept of ‘dialogue’ instead of ‘negotiation’, consider the Government as an essential participant in its own right and assigned the Justice Minister to refer the final outcomes of the Dialogue to His Majesty the King.
The participants in the Session were Government: Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs; Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Noaimi, Minister of Education and Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf, Minister of Works. Independents from the Legislative Authority include MP Ahmed Al Saati; MP Latifa Al Gaoud; MP AbdulHakeem Al Shimiri; MP Sawsan Taqawi; Shura Member Khalid Al Masqati; Shura Member Dalal Al Zayed; Shura Member Jameela Salman and Shura Member AbdulAziz Abul.
Coalition of ten societies includes Ahmad Juma; Adnan Bader; AbdulRahman AbdulSalam; Khalid Al-Qattan; Abdulla Bughamir; Abdulla Al Huwaihi; AbdulRahman Al Baker and Ahmad Al BinAli.
Six societies include Dr. Muneera Fakhro; Mohammed; Hajji Shehabi; Hafedh Ali; Sayed Jameel Khadim; Abdulnabi Salman; Hameed Al-Mulla; Hassan Al Aali and Majeed Milad.
Facilitators were Khalid Ajaji and Dr. Abdulla Taleb.
The Spokesperson for the National Consensus Dialogue, Isa AbdulRahman, confirmed that the opening discussion centered on the third point to have reached consensus during the second session of the Dialogue; ‘the Dialogue’s outcomes will be final’.
The session continued with participants giving varying views that focused on another previously agreed point; ‘the Government is a participant in its own right’. It was expressed by others that the Dialogue should continue to move forward with the aim of embracing the opportunity of the sessions as a means of achieving political gains for all.
A number of participants suggested that the point ‘the Government is a participant in its own right’ should be re-phrased to replace ‘Government’ with ’Leadership’. However, some proposed that this point could be discussed again at a later session, together with a point on the agenda regarding ‘related guarantees for the implementation of consensuses.’