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{
    "id": 771894,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/771894/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I want to encourage that we take a bipartisan approach, so that it is not just winner-take-it-all. Where somebody adds value, it should be a bipartisan approach, so that we tap from the knowledge and experience of our Members who can chair committees. Justice Madzayo, a former Judge of the Industrial Court chaired the Committee on Labour and Social Welfare and did very well. I want to urge Members that when you retreat to elect your chairpersons, do not wear blinkers of Jubilee and the National Super Alliance (NASA) and forget that we are a House that has to make a difference in this country. Lastly, in the last Parliament, Committees did very poorly in responding to petitions by members of the public that come to this House. We probably processed to the finish less than 5 to 10 per cent of the petitions that came to this House. Out there you will find that the members of the public have a fairly reasonable trust in this House. They fairly acknowledge that it is different and that is why they keep bringing petitions here, some of which have already been read. I want to encourage that for any Committee that is given petitions, the Standing Order require that the results must come back to the Floor in 60 days. We have petitions that hung in Committees for four years, and we ended up not doing anything about them. That brings me to the point that Sen. Wako raised; that we may have to increase the membership of some Committees, especially those that get many petitions, for example, the Committee on Finance and Budget, the Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations and the Committee on Land, Environment and Natural Resources, so that they can have sub-committees within themselves that can deal with these issues to the satisfaction of members of the public. This will ensure that we do not end up, as the Senate and Senators, being discussed on FM radio stations every morning as to how we are not working. We want to be discussed as to how we are working successfully. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to second."
}