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{
    "id": 286982,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/286982/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 238,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Nuh",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 114,
        "legal_name": "Nuh Nassir Abdi",
        "slug": "nuh-abdi"
    },
    "content": "On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. A while ago, I asked for your guidance on an issue that I think this House needs to pronounce itself on adequately. I want to take you to Standing Order No.42 (5) which states:- “When the Speaker directs that a Question is in order, the Clerk shall as soon as possible forward the Question to the Minister to whom it is directed and the Minister shall, within five days of receipt of the Question, submit a written reply to the Clerk”. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, paragraph (8) of the same Standing Order says:- “Upon receiving a Question for oral reply, the Minister shall within the period specified in paragraph (5) submit to the Clerk, fifteen copies of the reply and shall be required to appear in the House to reply on the designated day”. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think, as a Backbench, we are fed up with the way the Government wants to take Question Time. It has become a habit that Ministers supply written answers to Members of Parliament in the Chamber just before they start asking the Questions. The Standing Orders are very explicit that within five days after a Minister receives a Question, he is supposed to comply with the Standing Orders by submitting a written reply. This shows that Ministers only look at specific Questions when they are listed on the Order Paper. Questions are listed on the Order Paper because many Members raise Questions almost five months or six months before. The action we are asking the Executive to take only materializes upon the Executive realizing that a Question has been listed on the Order Paper. It should not be so. Immediately a Question is posed by the Backbench, the Executive is supposed to act on that Question immediately and give a reply in five days. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we take question time casually, then the question is; do we have any basis for asking the Questions? Do we expect the Executive to do justice to Questions we ask? Just a while ago, I raised the issue of Mr. Kabogo asking about two Kenyans who were held up in Mozambique. Upon realizing the Question was listed on the Order Paper, the Ministry ran up and down looking for visas and travel documents for the kids who were affected. I think the House should give guidance as to how the Executive are supposed to proceed. If the Executive has been exempted from complying with the Standing Order, then let us be informed, so that we do not continue asking that people should comply when in essence, maybe, this House has given them an exemption. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, give us direction."
}