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"id": 440306,
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"speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
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"legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
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"content": "of my heart for listening to the cries and the wishes of the Members of this House. I remember that for a long time, the Members of this House and I have been one of them, have been concerned at what has been appearing as reducing Chairs of Committees to be extensions of the Executive. This move to amend our Standing Orders to allow members of the Executive and particularly Cabinet Secretaries to come here and address directly matters under their purview, is highly commendable. I want to thank very sincerely, Members of the Procedure and House Rules Committee, hon. Tom Kajwang’ and his colleagues, for doing this House a service, which we have desired for a long time. Noting that time is fast spent, I would like to take as little time as possible and only to note that Articles 94, 95 and 96 are very clear on the roles of Parliament and the two Houses of Parliament, namely, the National Assembly and the Senate. It is very clearly stated therein, among other things, that our role is to make laws, represent the people who have sent us here and also to provide oversight over the Executive and other arms of the Government. What we have witnessed, unfortunately, in the recent past, is that Chairpersons of Committees have tended to be reduced, in what someone in an engineering background like myself would equate to a workshop equivalent of spanner boys. This is really not helpful to us. Apart from being entirely wrong, the Chairpersons of Committees should be the warriors in leading from the front in providing oversight that our role entails. In that context, therefore, the proposals as made by these amendments to the House’s Standing Orders, are highly commendable because now, truly, we will be offloading that baggage from the back of the Chairpersons of Committees, which in the first place, ought not to have been their responsibility, so that they can concentrate in leading the Members of their Committees in doing what the law requires of them as Members of this august House. But even as we undertake these measures, we have pointed out that our work is being hampered in more ways than one with sometimes what appears to be inadequate research and clerking expertise within the Committees. Sometimes, a lot of contemporary issues come up, not even just contemporary issues, even the Bills that appear before this House. Any Member who has cared to look at the proposed Companies Bill and the Insolvency Bill will agree with me that if you were to devote your time to those two Bills, it will leave you absolutely with nothing else to do. The Companies Bill, for example, is more than 1000 pages and the Insolvency Bill is 800 pages. I think even as we undertake these measures which are highly commendable, let us look to revamp the research and clerking expertise within the committees. I am convinced that these passionate research findings on contemporary issues can give value to the debates in this House. For instance, you are aware that at the moment our country is involved in very strong debates on national dialogue and those of us who are interested in communication, we are also engrossed in matters to do with the proposed communication surveillance system for improving security. These are good things. A lot of times, people comment on them out of ignorance without actually delving into the real issues. I am convinced that if it was possible for us to have research on the same, since these are things that have happened in other countries; if it was possible for us to have detailed research on the pros and cons of these two issues, then we would be debating from a very informed position. As I rush to conclude, I have noted that as we speak, there appears to be a constitutional lacuna with regard to matters of the Executive. You The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}