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{
    "id": 372034,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/372034/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 137,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "are in a pure presidential system. I am also like the rest when it comes to doubting whether we are really mature for a pure presidential system. We belong to the Commonwealth. All Commonwealth countries have purely parliamentary systems. We, here, have gone presidential. I would like to inform this House that recently we were in London attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) seminar and workshop. We realized that something was totally wrong. We are the only country that has adopted a totally different system. For me, that is a long-term solution. Right now we are in this. Most of us would want to get issues in their constituencies addressed. Even though we have been putting a lot of weight on the Leader of Majority Party to address some of these issues he really cannot because he does not work for the Executive. He is the Leader of Majority Party in Parliament which is separate and distinct from the Executive. It is the same thing with chairpersons of Committees. Some of them, in fact, come from the minority side. Supposing you elect a minority Member of Parliament – it did not happen – to chair a Departmental Committee, how would that Member even answer on behalf of the Government? Think about the Public Investments Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. The Speaker can initiate for us a two days workshop so that we exhaustively discuss this issue and come up with the short-term solution. Could we get written answers from Ministries? Can we have a situation where we file questions and we get written answers? Is there a way we can have our questions addressed in this House? I would love to see my question answered in this House and I interrogate it. That is even when my people in Suba would know that I am a good legislator. Some of us probably won our second or third or fourth term because of how effective we were able to articulate the issues affecting our constituencies. When you put us here in a way that we are unable to interrogate and hold the Government to account, you are somehow contributing to our failure in the next general election. Hon. Speaker, we need to have that two-day retreat and see a way of marrying the systems and be in a position to discharge our duties."
}