Ban on bureaucratsf involvement in Diet discussions weakens Dietfs role in supervising administrative bodies
Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ozawa Ichiro is calling for a ban on bureaucratsf participation in Diet discussions as part of what he calls gDiet reform.h He has indicated the intention to submit a bill to revise the Diet Act in regard to this matter at the extraordinary Diet session scheduled to start on October 26.
Although the DPJ claims a gbreakaway from bureaucracy,h what Ozawa is trying to do could lead to a gbreakaway from administrative control.h
The Diet, as the highest organ of state power, has many functions, including the establishment of the constitution, nomination of prime minister, and approval of budgets and treaties.
Its most important function is to supervise administrative bodies, including not only the prime minister and other cabinet ministers but also government bureaucrats.
The Diet has worked to reveal the facts and where responsibilities lie in a series of bribery and other scandals involving senior bureaucrats, including the Health Ministryfs concealment of documents related to contaminated blood products that caused HIV and hepatitis C infections, the Foreign Ministryfs use of secret state funds, and a vice defense ministerfs cozy relations with a military equipment trader. The DPJ has prided itself on its accusations against the Social Insurance Agency of its improper use of national pension premiums.
If bureaucrats are prohibited from standing up to answer questions in Diet meetings, it will make it difficult for the Diet to exercise its right to investigate and supervise administrative bodies, which is guaranteed under the Constitution.
It is prohibited in principle
Until 1999, senior bureaucrats regularly accompanied their ministers to Diet meetings and were allowed to reply to questions only if a committee chair allowed them to do so.
Under the current system imposed in 1999, bureaucrats are allowed to join Diet meetings only when the Diet calls them as witnesses who can provide technical explanations. Their participation in Diet discussions must be requested by a parliamentarian and a committee must approve it. In other words, bureaucrats are already prohibited from joining Diet discussions in principle.
- Akahata, October 23, 2009