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{
    "id": 697240,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/697240/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 359,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "had a ping-pong approach to matters between the Senate and the National Assembly that are unnecessary. Whenever the Constitution touches on Parliament, it does not require one to be a lawyer to understand or to interpret it to mean Parliament. We have fought this war and we have even gone to the Supreme Court on several matters to seek an advisory opinion and the law has always been on our side. The issue of the vetting of the Inspector General was one issue that brought this ugly face on us. We have always believed that you permanently sit on a position which is not the case. The treatment we have gotten from the National Assembly as a Senate has been belittling and embarrassing. It is only fair to say that this Senate has worked very hard to maintain the relationship and it has been the sober big brother. However, the nature of the relationship has also necessitated that we touch on a few issues that are of legal nature, including this Bill. This Bill is a simple amendment. However, it has a lot of weight to the issues that are here. In the nomination of candidates, it gives clear timelines. That is one thing that I like about this Bill. If a Bill originates from the National Assembly, it has to come to the Senate within three days. That will take care of the issue of delaying where we have had cases of a Bill delaying until its time elapses or there is a crisis. It also stipulates that within three days even after rejection, the nominating authority is communicated to so that they can replace. I am happy with the timelines because sometimes we have seen it happen and cause an unnecessary crisis. In Clause 7, the Bill provides for the issue of rejection. If you do not reject or approve, it is deemed to have been approved. Even if it is one House – that the National Assembly approves or the Senate does not approve after a few days, that nomination is deemed to have been approved. That is very crucial so that we are also aware that we cannot sit on a nomination and wait forever. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the relationship that we have had with the National Assembly shows that we have not looked beyond our noses. We have had people who have looked just “here, at the nose level”. Of course, this has gone down after they realized their mistake. Perhaps they will find themselves in this House after the next elections. Some of us will be in the National Assembly. I say so because we must make laws that will stand the test of time; for posterity. After 50 years, people will look at the books of history and see that you made a contribution. The statistics in Parliament do not lie. More than 70 per cent of us will not come back. We must drill this into the heads of people who have made sure that they derail the cooperation between the two Houses; from the leadership to the membership. We must realise that seven out of 10 of us will not come back. That has been proven over time. So, we must make laws considering other people who will be sitting in the positions we are occupying today. If we do that, we will not have issues that we are dealing with every day; the ping pong not only on appointments but even on the passage of Bills. For instance, with the Bill that I sponsored and was signed into law, people were congratulating me that it was signed yet it was a Bill I had authored in 2013. I had to personally follow up to find out where it was stuck in the National Assembly. It is not supposed to be that way. Bills are supposed to have a clear timeline. When a Bill takes"
}