{"id":712587,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/712587/?format=json","text_counter":32,"type":"other","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Hon. Senators, I therefore wish to inform you that this is the second time that the two Houses of Parliament are required to approve appointments of candidates to public offices. As you may recall, consultations were held between the Speakers of the Senate and the National Assembly when Parliament was required to approve the appointment of the Inspector General of Police. It was then agreed that joint vetting be conducted by the relevant Standing Committees of the two Houses. Under the circumstances therefore, I direct as follows:- 1. The vetting of the nominees to the National Climate Change Council shall be conducted jointly by the Committees of the two Houses mandated to deal with matters environment. The vetting process will therefore be conducted by the Standing Committee on Land and Natural Resources of the Senate and the relevant departmental Committee of the National Assembly. 2. The Chairpersons of the two committees will co-chair the joint sittings and the secretariat will comprise officers of the two Houses. 3. The quorum of the joint sittings will be their respective quorum of each of the Committees as required by the respective Standing Orders. 4. As contemplated under Rule 9 (6) of the joint rules, unless a decision is reached by consensus, any vote to be taken in the joint sitting of the Committee shall be by separate Houses. This will ensure that the numerical difference of the individual Members representing the Houses in the joint sittings has no effect on the decisions of the joint sittings of the Committees. Hon. Senators, Section 8 of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act 2011 provides that the relevant Committee should table its Report for consideration within 14 days from the date when the notification of nomination is conveyed to the House. The Act also requires that the public be given a seven-day notification for submission of views regarding the suitability of nominees proposed for appointment to an office requiring the approval of Parliament. In this regard and in accordance with the provision of Article 259(5)(a) of the Constitution as read together with Section 5 of the said Act, the counting of the seven-day notification to the public shall start running on the day following the day when the notice is published in the dailies. Further, Section 9 of the said law provides thus:- “If after the expiry of the period for consideration specified in Section 8, Parliament has never approved nor rejected the nomination of a candidate, the candidate shall be deemed to have been approved.” Hon. Senators, it is, therefore, advisable that the concerned committees expeditiously proceed to notify the nominees and the public. Thereafter, the two committees should commence the joint approval hearings and again table the report in good time to enable the Houses of Parliament to consider the report. This message, together with the resumes of the nominees stand committed to the Standing Committee on Lands and Natural Resources sitting jointly with the relevant committee of the National Assembly as earlier explained. I thank you. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"}