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{
    "id": 954514,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/954514/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 206,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "“The scope of a Finance Bill is not limited to the imposition and alteration of taxes for the purpose of adjusting the revenue of a particular year. It is also not intended to be an annual Act in the same sense as an Appropriation Act, but normally includes many provisions of permanent character for the regulation of fiscal machinery and other purposes.” I put emphasis to use of the words “fiscal machinery”. Hon. Members, the scope of a Finance Bill is not exclusively limited to imposition and alteration of taxation for the purpose of adjusting the revenue of a particular financial year, but also includes provisions of permanent character for the regulation of the fiscal machinery and other purposes. With regard to the inclusion of amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and Anti- Money Laundering Act, 2009 under Clauses 50 and 51 of the Finance Bill, 2019, though not reflected in the Long Title of the Bill, a correlation can be made between the proposed amendments with regard to reporting of suspicious transactions as a fiscal control on the loss of government revenue. It is my considered view that, as a House, we should not be seen to curtail our legislative mandate. The legislation passed by this House is measured as against the Constitution and the issues of concern to the people that it resolves. With this in mind, form is a secondary consideration. Hon. Members, Standing Order 47(3) places a particular obligation on the Speaker to exclude a Motion from being debated or direct the amendment of a Motion in an appropriate format where the Motion either offends the Constitution, an Act of Parliament or the Standing Orders. Verbatim, the Standing Order provides, and I quote— “(3) If the Speaker is of the opinion that any proposed Motion – (a) is one which infringes, or the debate on which is likely to infringe, any of these Standing Orders; (b) is contrary to the Constitution or an Act of Parliament, without expressly proposing appropriate amendment to the Constitution or the Act of Parliament; The Speaker may direct either that, the Motion is inadmissible, or that notice of it cannot be given without such alteration as the Speaker may approve or that the motion be referred to the relevant committee of the Assembly, pursuant to Article 114(1) of the Constitution.” Hon. Members, in parliamentary practice, a House of Parliament considers any Bills by way of a Motion seeking agreement of the House either for the Bill to be read a Second Time, for amendments to the Bill to be considered and approved during the Committee of the whole House, or for the Bill to be read a Third Time. In relation to the consideration of a Bill, the role of the Speaker under Standing Order 47(3) is two-fold. On the one hand, the Speaker is under an obligation to exclude any Bill or part thereof from consideration by the House where such a Bill or part of it patently violates the Constitution, any written law or the Standing Orders, and the said violation is not curable through appropriate amendment or revision, prior to the consideration of the Bill. On the other hand, the Speaker is under a further obligation to ensure that any Bill under consideration by the House is insulated from any amendment or revision that may place it at odds with either a constitutional or statutory provision or violate the procedural prescriptions of the Standing Orders. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}