Parliament snubs government

Tom Sangala June 19, 2015

467 1 minute read

The Business Committee of Parliament on Wednesday rejected a request by government asking the National Assembly to form a separate Parliamentary Committee on Public Service Reforms.

In her communication before the House adjourned for lunch, First Deputy Speaker Esther Mcheka-Chilenje said the Business Committee – which she is also part of – made its decisions on a number of other relevant matters.

“The Committee resolved that due to the institutional capacity challenges, the matters relating to Public Service Reforms should be handled by the Government Assurances Committee and in order to reflect the new mandate, the new committee will now be known as ‘Government Assurances and Public Service Reforms Committee,’” announced Mcheka-Chilenje.

She also reported that the meeting also considered a request from government for the National Assembly to consider extending the 14 days period required under Standing Order 186, within which government is expected to submit responses to the Committee adopted by the House.

Mcheka-Chilenje said that following such a recognition, the Business Committee resolved to extend the period to 60 days, saying the Legal Affairs Committee was being instructed to make sure the 60 days recommendation was taken on board during the review process of the Standing Orders.

However, this and some other resolutions did not go down well with some Members of Parliament (MPs) who charged that they were being ambushed as they were not consulted on matters of national importance.

The lawmakers argued that it was wrong for the Business Committee to make some significant resolutions on behalf of the plenary which, according to the MPs, is supposed to reign supreme over any of its committees.

Later in the afternoon, a heated debate ensued on the role of the Business Committee with the MPs questioning whether every decision that the committee makes should not be subject to critiquing by the House.

Ironically, the committee also comprises the Leader of Opposition, leaders of political parties not in government and opposition party whips – who must have obviously taken part in the decisions which were later being queried by their parties.