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{
    "id": 958235,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/958235/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 158,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "we amend that to read: Short title and Commencement, because of the commencement of the Bill.” The Legal Department advised that we add: “And shall have been deemed to come into force on 1st July 2019. Legal Officer, please, go ahead to explain the justification.” Hon. Speaker, that is what happened. The Legal Officer answered the Chair. “We should have a commencement date in an Act of Parliament. This is in tandem with Article 116 of the Constitution and that is why we are introducing an amendment to Clause 1.” That was the Legal Officer explaining the genesis of the amendment. The Vice- Chairman, Sen. Mahamud said: “Going forward, do you think it is necessary to have that every time?” The Legal officer said: “Yes. Hon. Members, you will recall that in the Bill that was passed by the National Assembly, we had amended to read “upon publication”. The presumption was that the Bill was going to pass before 1st July, but it has now been passed beyond 1st July.” This is common sense. The Vice-Chairman went to table another Bill in the Senate with a different commencement date. I do not know how it was altered outside the Mediation Committee meetings. He said okay to the explanation by the Legal Officer on the justification of the amendment. I am saying this because it is important. As I said, we are a House of rules and procedures. I want to believe that the Senate is similarly a House that is guided by rules and procedures. I, as the Chairman, cannot alter any Committee proceedings, its deliberations and decisions unless I reconvene the Committee to do so. Therefore, I am lost on how the Vice- Chairman was able to alter the commencement date on the Bill and table in their House a Bill that has a different commencement date from the mediated version Bill. As I said, I will table a copy of this HANSARD Report which I have also shared with the Senate Members of the Mediation Committee and the Speaker of the Senate. It is important that we respect our committees. The Mediation Committee had a short period to tackle the issues that were referred to it. Once we were done with mediation, the life of that Committee ended with the end of the mediation process. How things were altered even after the term of the Committee came to an end is beyond my understanding. As a stickler to rules and procedures, I told myself that it will be important that I raise this matter, so that, even as we pass the mediated version of this Bill, we are cognisant of that fact that the Bill in the other House has that slight alteration. To me, that is unprocedural, illegal and uncalled for. Therefore, I want to beg, I know the Senate passed this Bill yesterday, through you, two things. One, you speak to the leadership of the other House to consider recommittal of Clause 1 to be in line with Clause 1 of the Bill before this House. Two, I want to address you as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). When the Legal Officer who raised this issue and made an explanation did so, the Legal Officer who advised the Chairperson of the Senate was seated in that meeting and she never raised any objection. She did not say anything when the Legal Officer of the National Assembly explained the genesis of this amendment. It was only after the meeting over lunch hour that the Chair from the other House, who was my Vice-Chairman, told me that he is being advised by their Legal Officer that the date should remain in the mediated version of the Bill that they have adopted in their House. Therefore, I beg you, as the Chairman of the PSC, to create some order within our staff. We cannot have a Legal Department that has officers serving one Committee where some are advising and others misadvising Hon. Members yet they sit in one office. I want to believe that the legal team in Parliament should have some semblance of working together. 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."
}