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{
    "id": 816840,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/816840/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 48,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "any perception of undue influence, conflict of interest or bias. Nevertheless, you will recall that the work of the House and its Committees is not limited to inquiry. The Executive may, on its own motion, wish to engage the House or its Committees in consultation on matters of policy or review ongoing programmes and activities. In this regard, co-funding such an engagement is permissible as long as the relationship is maintained at “arms length”. My Office and that of the Clerk shall consider any such requests from the Executive and private entities and use our discretion, on a case-by-case basis. Hon. Members, of late, some Committees seem to have many non-committee Members, commonly referred to as ‘friends of committee’. Indeed, in some instances as alluded to by the Leader of the Majority Party and other Members, these ‘friends’ have adopted the behaviour of the proverbial camel. The camel begged and received permission to insert only its nose into a traveller’s tent, but proceeded to insert its entire body and subsequently evict the traveller from his lodging. There is no bar to non-committee Members attending the proceedings of a Committee. Indeed, Standing Order 195 allows this, only barring non-committee Members from voting. Members would refrain from attending the meetings of other Committees in previous Parliaments despite this permission. The scenes recently witnessed where Committee Members are outnumbered by their ‘friends’ to the extent that they lack sitting space and adequate time allocation to prosecute their mandate are unfortunate and unacceptable. This is an abuse of the spirit of Standing Order 195 and has cast the House in very negative light with regard to the seriousness and decorum of Committee proceedings. Consequently, to remedy this, I, therefore, direct that the Clerk of the National Assembly immediately put in place administrative measures to reserve marked sitting places for each committee member at any meeting properly convened. It shall be upon each chairperson to determine the number of non-committee members to participate in a committee sitting at any given time, taking into account the available sitting space."
}