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{
    "id": 771818,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/771818/?format=api",
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    "content": "point of call is the office of the governor. It is absolutely important that education is devolved. Second, the Committee that did this review omitted to look at the Standing Orders in relation to County Public Accounts Committee and Investment Committee (CPAIC). If you look at the mirror in the National Assembly and in all comparable jurisdictions, the watchdog committees; that is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Public Investment Committee (PIC), enjoy the majority of membership from the minority party, that goes on to chair and vice chair them. Standing Order No.214 that sets up the CPAIC is silent on this. When you fall back to Standing Order No.185, that caps the membership of all Committees at nine and gives the majority five and the minority party four Members in relation to the current strength in this House. This means that where the Standing Orders provide that the chairperson of the watchdog Committee will come from the minority side, it is then left to the discretion and terror of those who are more to determine who the chairperson is. This does not make much sense. In the National Assembly, our coalition NASA has the majority in PAC, PIC, the Committee on Implementation and the Special Audit Committee. We have the majority of membership in the four watchdog Committees. They provide the chairman and the vice chairman. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to urge that within the shortest time possible, this House amends the Standing Orders so that; one, the majority membership in the watchdog Committee comes from the minority side and that the they also provides the chair and the vice chair. It does not make sense to say that they are chairing because they are providing oversight to the Government. However, when the chairman is not there, those who are being over-sighted are the ones who chair the Committee. It does not make sense in terms of fairness, audit and oversight. I want to urge that the Office of the Clerk, our leadership offices of the Senate Majority Leader and myself; that we look at this and deal with it in the shortest time possible. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the last Parliament, the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget had a membership of 16 because it was an extremely busy Committee. It was dealing with a lot of issues that relate to revenue allocation. This involved engagement with the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) and the National Treasury. I do not know why that has been slashed down to nine Members. I would want to engage my colleague from the majority side to see if we can improve on that. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to second."
}