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"id": 176247,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 185,
"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
"slug": "danson-mungatana"
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will be brief and to the point. I want to make three quick points. First, these are very good rules and I am not going to repeat what previous hon. Members have said. With a lot of respect to one previous speaker, I want to caution that we should not pass any rule here which will impede the making of legislation. In particular, I am worried about the proposal that has been debated here, that quorum must be achieved at the time of passing legislation. I have spent a lot of time in this House like other hon. Members, and we know that during the time of the second reading, if we were to call for quorum, a lot of our legislation will not pass. As a result, we will have a rule that will be impeding the productivity of this House. For example, the just concluded Biosafety Bill is a very technical Bill, and when we were debating it, very few hon. Members actually contributed. I want to put in a caution on that, so that we do not pass a rule that will make us lag behind in terms of passing legislation. Secondly, I would like to refer to the way we have arranged the proposed Standing Orders of the National Assembly. When I look at the way they have been set out, there are two things that we have missed out. Under Part I, we have the introduction and under Part II the election of the 3950 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 9, 2008 Speaker and the swearing-in of Members. Part III talks about the Deputy Speaker. That is very good and it is a logical sequence. After that, I feel very strongly and wish to persuade this House that we have left out two very important components of the House. Parliament cannot exist and move without the Leader of Government Business. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we would need to create a part that, specifically addresses the Leader of Government Business, the Deputy Leader of Government Business. Just like the Speaker who has the Temporary Deputy Speaker, in the event that the Leader of Government Business and the Deputy Leader of Government Business are not there, we should have two members of the Government Panel who would be able to perform any duties that are allocated to the Leader of Government Business. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is very serious now because whether the Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs is there or not, his Office of Leader of Government Business, on Thursday, would be expected to give direction on what is going to happen. We will need that institutionalised. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am proposing that, that part must be included in these new Standing Orders. Finally, Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Leader of the Official Opposition is not a person. It is an institution just, like the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the Leader of Government Business and the Deputy Leader of Government Business. In the same manner, we have to create another part of the Standing Orders that clearly shows how the Leader of the Official Opposition should be appointed. I am proposing that we move this amendment at the Committee Stage. He should have the deputy and two other Members who will be the Temporary Leader of the Official Opposition in the event that the Leader of the Official Opposition or the Deputy Leader of Official Opposition are away. I intend to institutionalise these three important arms of this Parliament in order for it to function. I want to agree with all the previous speakers and also urge the House to institutionalise the two institutions that have somehow been missed out in the way we have organised Parliament. We should have the swearing-in of Members of Parliament, the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and chairpersons of committees. We should then have the Leader of Government Business and his team and the Leader of the Official Opposition and his team, so that it is an institution we are dealing with. It should be divided into three in order for it to balance and work efficiently."
}