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"id": 822699,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Zani",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker. I beg to move the Motion:- THAT, Pursuant to Standing Order No.246, the Report of the Procedure and Rules Committee on Amendments to the Senate Standing Orders, laid on the Table of the Senate on Tuesday, 7th August, 2018, be approved. Madam Temporary Speaker, this is the second report of the Procedures and Rules Committee which was based on the review of the Senate Standing Orders. This was done after specific interests, procedures and things happened within the Senate to do with Statements. Many issues were raised at that time, for example, the growing number of Statements within the Senate. This is a good thing because it gave Members a chance to articulate various issues in their counties. However, there were very many statements and, at times, it would take a long time to go through all of them. Madam Temporary Speaker, many Senators shared their feelings and felt that Statements should be contained within one hour so that there is time to go through Motions and Bills. This would also enable us to discuss and improve on the turnover of the Bills from the Senate. It was also observed that after the Statement Hour, many Senators tended to move away, rather than engage in the Bills and Motions. Therefore, this is a focused attempt to put more interest in Motions and Bills. There were also complaints from various Senators, who sometimes felt that their Statements had not been placed in the Order Paper. There was also the need to balance legislative output versus the representative mandate of the Senate. Additionally, Madam Temporary Speaker, there was lack of clarity on the Members of Committees while processing responses to Statements. For example, Members or Chairpersons of various committees would not be present to give the Statements. Alternatively, even when they are there and ready to give the Statement, the Member who sought the Statement might not be there. There was also lot of riding over the Statements, so that if a Member asked a question or sought a Statement, many Members would subsequently request for more clarifications, and some of these were being given at the point of response. Further, other Members felt that for a long time, some of these Statements were not owned by the Chairpersons of the Committees because they got them from the Ministries. It was, consequently, felt that the responses to the Statements were not adequately interpreted. Because of all this, Madam Temporary, Speaker, a review of the Standing Orders became critical and necessary. The current Senate Standing Orders were adopted on 14th June, 2017, and amended on 14th December, 2017. However, at a Senate Leadership 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."
}