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{
    "id": 273557,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/273557/?format=api",
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    "content": "(either in the affirmative or in the negative) during the preceding six months in the same Session, provided that a Motion to rescind the decision of such a question may be moved with the permission of the Speaker”. Hon. Members, the Standing Orders having specifically made provisions that address the issue of repetition in not less than two instances, it is clear that repetition is, at all costs, to be avoided, in the proceedings of the House. This would naturally extend to re-opening, for debate, matters that have conclusively been addressed by the House in the previous six months. Hon. Members, I now proceed to the second question on whether or not a member can seek a Ministerial Statement on or otherwise seek to address a matter on the Floor of the House when the matter has been referred to or is the subject of deliberations of a committee of the House. Committees are agents of the House and the House relies on them to thoroughly scrutinize and study specific matters that cannot be adequately interrogated or inquired into by the House in Plenary. Hon. Members, Standing Order No.78 gives guidance on how matters that have been committed to or are before committees are to be dealt with by the House. It states that, “no member shall refer to substance of the proceedings of a Select Committee before the Committee has made its report to the House”. Hon. Members, it is clear from these provisions that the Standing Orders do not contemplate a scenario where the House delegates a matter to a Committee with one hand and, with the other, continues to deliberate the same matter. Such a scenario would most certainly lead to disorder in the manner in which we conduct our business. Bearing the foregoing in mind, I now turn to the specific matter at hand. The issues raised by hon. Mbadi in his request for a Ministerial Statement traverse two financial years - 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. In the case of the Financial Year 2007/2008, the Minister informed the House that the Public Accounts Committee had investigated the matters raised for that financial year and tabled its Report in the House. Indeed, hon. Members, the HANSARD record indicates that the 2007/2008 Public Accounts Committee Report was tabled in this House on 7th December 2010 and was, subsequently, adopted by the House on 14th December 2010. The Treasury’s Memorandum responding to the Committee’s recommendations was submitted on 24th May 2011 and will be tabled in the House along with the Public Accounts Committee Report on the 2008/2009 accounts. Hon. Members, in respect of the accounts for the Financial Year 2008/2009, the Minister informed the House that the Report of the Controller and Auditor-General on those accounts had been submitted to the House and that the Public Accounts Committee was presently seized of the matter, and is at an advanced stage of completing the Report. Hon. Dr. Kones, the Vice-chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee confirmed on the Floor of the House that the accounts for 2008/2009 were, indeed, before the Committee and that the matters visited by hon. Mbadi had been raised as an audit query by the Controller and Auditor-General. Given that the matters raised by the Member for Gwassi were before the Public Accounts Committee at the time he sought to speak to them in Plenary, I find that it would be premature for the House to interrogate the same matters before it formally receives a report of the Public Accounts Committee."
}