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    "id": 41924,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/41924/?format=api",
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    "content": "The Committee of Supply should then commence and proceed as provided for in Standing Orders No.153 to 155. It is noted that as Ministers are at present still Members of the House, they will move their votes during this transitional period. But in future, starting from the next Parliament - that is the Eleventh Parliament - depending on amendments made to the law and the Standing Orders, it may have to be the Chairs of respective Departmental Committees or Members designated by the leaders of the House to do this. Once the Estimates have been approved, an Appropriation Bill should be introduced to the House by the Minister for Finance or in future, possibly, by the Chairperson of the Budget Committee. Hon. Members, the roadmap I have presented is enough, I hope, to discount the claim that the law contemplated in Article 221(2), paragraph (b), to govern the form and procedure of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure has not been passed and that, on that basis, the Constitutional provisions are, therefore, inapplicable. It has been argued by the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution - and I agree and want to persuade all of us to agree – that Article 221, being a constitutional provision, must take precedence over legislation and that, in any case, the purpose of passage of legislation is to give further effect to the provisions of the Constitution and not to contradict or take away that which the Constitution has expressly mandated. So, please, note that whatever law you pass to operationalize the Constitution only gives effect to the Constitution. It does not take away from the Constitution. Hon. Members, invoking Section 7 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, it is clear that it is possible and necessary to use the existing laws, including the Fiscal Management Act of 2009 and the existing Government Financial Regulations and Procedures, to navigate the Budget process. I think I should also emphasize that the Budget process has also got inbuilt mechanisms for dealing with unforeseen events in order to avoid the possibility of what, sometimes, is described as a financial shutdown. Article 222 of the Constitution provides that the National Assembly may authorize the withdrawal of money from the Consolidated Fund, in the event that the Appropriations Bill may not be assented to or is unlikely to be assented to by the beginning of a new financial year. This is the Vote on Account that is limited to no more than one half of the amount included in the Estimates of Expenditure for the particular year as tabled in the National Assembly. Hon. Members may wish to note now that the doctrine of separation of powers has played out in recent days, as the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary have all been seized of the matter of the Budget process concurrently, each feeling at liberty to deal with it in its own right and according to its constitutional limitations. It is also useful to observe that the decision of the Cabinet, the Minister and Treasury about how to proceed in this matter was based on their interpretation of the Constitution and its application to"
}