Parliament committees to draft bills
By Rodgers Luhwago
A major review of the Parliamentary Standing Orders passed by the House in the 9th meeting in Dodoma has scrapped the exclusive right enjoyed by the executive in drafting bills.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Citizen in Dar es Salaam, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Samuel Sitta, said the new Rules of the House have given powers to Standing Committees to draft bills for the objective of repealing, reviewing and enacting laws.
He said the decision aims at giving the Parliament more teeth so that it can effectively perform its functions, including holding the government accountable.
The Speaker was explaining on the performance of the Parliament two years since he was elected by his fellow MPs to head the post.
Despite problems, he said, the Parliament has performed well since he assumed the role as its presiding officer on December 2005. Application of the new Standing Orders would start in the 10th Parliamentary meeting late next month, he said.
"In fact, the public should understand that, by endorsing the new Parliamentary Standing Orders in the 9th meeting, the House did something very important.
"For example, under the new rules the Parliamentary Standing Committees now have been given powers to review, repeal and enact laws by drafting bills and deliberating on them before passing them into laws," he said.
He said the government was now no longer the sole entity bestowed with powers to draft bills and to have laws, repealed, enacted or reviewed. Instead MPs themselves could do so should the need arise.
On plans to make the House more independent, the Speaker said already the vote of the Parliament has been detached from the votes that were annexed to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
He explained that a special fund for the Parliament has been established under the administration of the Parliamentary Service Commission. According to him, the Permanent Secretary in the PMO has no authority to change anything, as far as expenditure of the money in the fund is concerned.
The Speaker said in the coming tenth Parliamentary meeting on January 29 the Parliament would repeal the former Act of Parliamentary Service Commission and replace it with the new one. He said the Bill for the Act has already been submitted to the government.
"All these efforts aim to strengthen the concept that Parliamentary activities should be supervised by the House itself," he added.
Source: The Citizen
By Rodgers Luhwago
A major review of the Parliamentary Standing Orders passed by the House in the 9th meeting in Dodoma has scrapped the exclusive right enjoyed by the executive in drafting bills.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Citizen in Dar es Salaam, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Samuel Sitta, said the new Rules of the House have given powers to Standing Committees to draft bills for the objective of repealing, reviewing and enacting laws.
He said the decision aims at giving the Parliament more teeth so that it can effectively perform its functions, including holding the government accountable.
The Speaker was explaining on the performance of the Parliament two years since he was elected by his fellow MPs to head the post.
Despite problems, he said, the Parliament has performed well since he assumed the role as its presiding officer on December 2005. Application of the new Standing Orders would start in the 10th Parliamentary meeting late next month, he said.
"In fact, the public should understand that, by endorsing the new Parliamentary Standing Orders in the 9th meeting, the House did something very important.
"For example, under the new rules the Parliamentary Standing Committees now have been given powers to review, repeal and enact laws by drafting bills and deliberating on them before passing them into laws," he said.
He said the government was now no longer the sole entity bestowed with powers to draft bills and to have laws, repealed, enacted or reviewed. Instead MPs themselves could do so should the need arise.
On plans to make the House more independent, the Speaker said already the vote of the Parliament has been detached from the votes that were annexed to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
He explained that a special fund for the Parliament has been established under the administration of the Parliamentary Service Commission. According to him, the Permanent Secretary in the PMO has no authority to change anything, as far as expenditure of the money in the fund is concerned.
The Speaker said in the coming tenth Parliamentary meeting on January 29 the Parliament would repeal the former Act of Parliamentary Service Commission and replace it with the new one. He said the Bill for the Act has already been submitted to the government.
"All these efforts aim to strengthen the concept that Parliamentary activities should be supervised by the House itself," he added.
Source: The Citizen
