Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 927621,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/927621/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 148,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "It may well be that you want to see the Cabinet Secretary in person, but it might be even better that the Principal Secretary appears. They are the accounting officers. They are likely to give you better answers, especially if the issues you are raising are not of a political nature. Not that I expect the Cabinet Secretaries to know too much politics, but some of the Questions, like the ones that go to the Committee on Finance and Planning, if you go to the Principal Secretaries, you are likely to get better and more informed answers. Take the example of a Statement sought by Hon. Oundo on fisheries. I am sure if the Principal Secretary in charge of Fisheries, not the one in charge of fish, were to appear, he or she is likely to give much more substantive answers relating to things about the 25 to 55 to 85 centimetres, the juvenile fish and things like those. You are likely to engage much better. You may find a Cabinet Secretary appearing before you to answer, but you ask a supplementary question and he asks for time to consult. So, he tells you that the people who accompany him are the experts. Nevertheless, for the reasons such as the ones the Leader of the Majority Party mentioned - if they are, for instance, attending a Cabinet meeting or a Cabinet Secretary is out of the country on official duty - ideally a Principal Secretary should suffice. But at all times, the Member asking the Question should be asked whether he or she feels comfortable getting a response from a Principal Secretary or he would rather be addressed by the Cabinet Secretaries themselves. Those others who have been responding, it may well be that they have been responding on behalf of the Cabinet Secretaries because they have been given some responsibilities to assist. However, we do not want to capture them in our Standing Orders for reasons that I have stated earlier. So, Hon. Mogaka has raised a valid point, but I think the chairmen should at all times afford the Member asking the Question an opportunity to indicate whether or not they would be satisfied getting an answer from a Principal Secretary in the absence of the substantive Cabinet Secretary."
}