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{
"id": 944501,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/944501/?format=api",
"text_counter": 27,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
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"speaker": null,
"content": "House intended to permit CASs to also appear before Committees to respond to questions on behalf of the Cabinet Secretaries. Hon. Members, having said that, you may agree with me that to hold CSs as the only persons who may engage with or appear before Parliament or its Committees will create unnecessary impediment to the conduct of the business of the House. The House has established Committees in which majority of its work is now conducted. The fact that an increasing amount of work is committed to Committees whose operations run concurrently has created a need for constant interaction with the Executive. The duty to attend and answer questions before Committees and to regularly report to Parliament if enforced in the strictest sense of the substance of Article 153, will, therefore, mean that some Committees will have to await the availability of a Cabinet Secretary before considering relevant matters placed before them. The wait could not only be indefinite, if one were to take into account the official duties of the affected Cabinet Secretaries but also, imply that a lot of business would lapse without the requisite reply being provided by the substantive CS. Hon. Members, the prerogative of Parliament to hold the Executive to account ought to be exercised in a manner that enables it to effectively discharge its mandate as given by the people. I am cognizant of the fact that vide Executive Order No.1 of 2018 on the Organization of Government, the President communicated to Parliament the manner in which he had decided to re-organize his Government. The Executive Order, additionally, identified the principal persons charged with the overall direction of the various ministries. Apart from the CS charged with overseeing the various ministries, a key feature was the inclusion of Principal Secretaries and the CASs. As it is now, an Executive Order, under the hand and seal of the President, has communicated to the House that a CAS is one of three ranking officials in the Executive. Hon. Members, any person to whom the power to govern is entrusted, is subject to constant oversight by this House. As your Speaker, I am obligated to ensure that this House stretches its oversight capabilities to such person(s) to whom the Constitution, statute or lawfully issued orders, such as Executive Order No.1 of 2018 is assigned authority to govern. My opinion is in harmony with that of my predecessor, at the early years of our Independence, Speaker Humphrey Slade, who on 3rd July 1963, observed: “The Chair remains in a unique position to safeguard, in a singular form, the right of Members to bring the Ministers to account and the Executive in general for their actions. Parliamentary Questions, therefore, serve as a true parliamentary mechanism to bring the Executive and, indeed, those who govern to be accountable to those being governed.” Hon. Members, I am, therefore, of the considered opinion that in holding the Executive to account, the House must take into account its prevailing structure as communicated by the President. In this regard, I am persuaded that, for purposes of facilitating the conduct of business of the House, apart from treating the CS as the officer primarily accountable to Parliament, a room does exist for our committees to permit the conveyance of timely and actionable responses to Questions before Committees through the PS and/or the CAS."
}