MPs call for stiffer penalties to curb traffic violations

AMMAN — More than 25 MPs on Sunday submitted a petition to the Lower House Permanent Office seeking amendments to the Traffic Law to double penalties for traffic violations.

They said they want to end “widespread dangerous driving habits”, and the manipulation in traffic accidents to exploit insurance coverage.

Meanwhile, one week after he raised the case under the Dome, MP Zakariya Sheikh (Islamic Centrist Party list) informed the prosecutor general to take the necessary measures to investigate alleged corruption at the Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna).

Last week, Sheikh criticised the chairman of the state-owned Miyahuna Company, which manages the capital’s water and sewage.

He charged that a tender to paint the insides of 13 water tankers was mismanaged, as the company that implemented the project did not meet the requirements set by the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation.

Sheikh said the paint may have poisoned the water that citizens have already consumed.

Minster of Water Hazem Nasser told the deputy that this case has been under investigation and that most of the information cited by the MP was inaccurate.

Prior to starting deliberations over the draft amendments to the Agriculture Law, Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh expressed the House’s support for women in Jordan, congratulating them on the occasion of International Women’s Day, which is observed on March 8.

Earlier in the day, Tarawneh gave roses to female MPs.

“We should support women as partners,” he said at the beginning of the session on Sunday. “We support women to continue their struggle to achieve their aspirations and demands.”

Following Tarawneh’s remarks, MP Wafa Bani Mustafa (Jerash, 4th District), who was recently appointed as National Centre for Human Rights board member, also congratulated women on the occasion.

“I would also like to announce that as Arab female parliamentarians, we came together from various Arab countries and decided to establish the Arab Female Parliamentarians Network to end violence against women, with Jordan as the host country for this network,” she said.

“This network will work towards ending violence against women and supporting all NGOs and civil society organisations working for the same goal,” Bani Mustafa added.