Wetangula reveals how CS will be able to answer MP questions tomorrow » Capital News

Nairobi, Kenya, April 11 – Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangura paved the way for his ministerial secretary to appear on the floor of the House of Commons this Wednesday to answer questions and provide reports requested by members.

This is in accordance with the General Inquiry Order of the National Assembly and the requirements of Articles 153(2) and 153(4)(b) of the Constitution.

This made it clear from the outset that Speaker Wetang’ula was only allowed to appear before the House of Commons and attend questions posed by members of parliament under the amended standing order. I was.

“To the Chief Cabinet Secretary, that there is no room for any delegation to appear in this House to answer questions on their behalf. We are obliged to answer questions in response to questions raised by or explain the policy in the minutes,” Wetangla instructed.

In guiding the House of Commons on the new procedure of skipping questions in the plenary session before MPs take a short break, Speaker Wetangla said, as is customary, MPs are required to submit signed copies of proposed questions to the Clerk. said. , shall process it in accordance with the provisions of the standing order before the final version is submitted to his office for approval.

“The clerk will then send the approved questions to the relevant ministries for an answer by their respective Cabinet Secretariat,” Wetangula said.

The Speaker shall, as to how the Chief Cabinet Secretary shall respond to questions, the leader of the majority party shall inform the House of Commons of the time and order in which the Chief Cabinet Secretary shall answer questions and submit reports to the House; said.

In doing so, Chair Wetangula instructed the majority party leaders to take into account the urgency of each question.

“For this purpose, the Secretariat shall periodically, on the advice of the leaders of the majority parties, draw up a provisional list of Cabinet Secretaries which will answer questions and submit reports to the House of Commons, It shall be published on the website,” he said.

He added: “The Chief Cabinet Secretary shall provide both physical and electronic copies of the answers to questions at least one day before his appearance.”

If a question is scheduled to be answered, the speaker shall ask the question on the date scheduled on the order form.

The speaker reiterated that the questions will be omitted in the order listed on the questionnaire that will be added to the order form.

“In particular, I shall allow the Chief Cabinet Secretary to answer the question on the day the answer is scheduled, notwithstanding the absence of the member who raised the question. If is here, allow him or her to answer questions whether you are here or not.In addition, the chair can change the order in which questions are discarded, You can postpone it,” he said.

However, members can ask the chair to defer the question or withdraw it entirely, he said.

“For added flexibility, a member whose question is on the order form may, upon prior written notice to the speaker, represent another member to ask the question in his/her absence.” he said.

In line with existing practice, the speaker told legislators that questions directed to the Constitutional Committee or the Independent Office would be answered before the relevant committees of the House of Representatives.

“If a member desires a written response to a question, I direct that a written response be provided. The Clerk shall forward the question to the relevant Cabinet Secretariat, Commission or Independent Office. and, upon receipt of the reply, shall be provided to the Secretary Member,” he said.

In the amended Standing Order, which came into force on Thursday, March 23, 2023, Standing Order 40(3A) gives priority to questions and reports by the Chief Cabinet Secretary for a period not exceeding three hours each Wednesday afternoon.

In this regard, and in order to allow sufficient time for members to omit questions during the meeting and to supplement the time reserved for questions, amended Rules of Procedure 32 states that Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. There are various meeting times from to 9:00 pm.

“For the sake of clarity, notwithstanding the provisions of Rule 30(2)(c), the House, in addition to the questions scheduled, may, during the afternoon session, terminate the business scheduled for the proceedings. We can adjourn at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, for a reply,” he advised.

By amendment to Rule of Order 25A(b), the Chair has designated a location adjacent to the Civil Servants’ Bench on the right side of the Chamber. The Chair serves as an appropriate place within the Chamber where the Chief Cabinet Secretary explains government policy, answers questions, and provides reports on matters under his or her control.

“This is the usual place where the Treasury Secretary presents the budget highlights each year,” he said.

The Speaker hoped the new procedure would increase executive accountability to Congress and urged lawmakers to take time to familiarize themselves with the new procedure ahead of the House reopening after a brief recess.