Parliament yesterday overwhelmingly passed two bills, the National Reconstruction Levy (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill and the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill. The National Reconstruction Levy Bill seeks to amend the NRL Act 2001 (Act 597) to apply the act by imposing a levy of five per cent on Non-Banking Financial Institutions.

A report of the Committee of Finance said it was informed that the amendment was necessary in view of the need for the various companies, especially Non-Banking Financial Institutions to respond to the national call for their contribution, apart from their corporate responsibilities.

The Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill also seeks to amend sections 2 (d) and 12 (c) of the Electoral Commission Act, 1993 (Act 451) by the insertion of the word "Voter" to clarify that the function of the Commission in respect of the issue of identity cards relates to the issuing of voter identity cards.

It further seeks to repeal the Identity Cards Decree, 1972 (NRCD) 129) in view of the fact that the Decree does not deal comprehensively with the issuing of national all purpose identity cards. The two bills await presidential assent.