Parliament’s presiding officers have criticised Cabinet
ministers and their deputies for failing to attend sittings to respond to
questions from backbenchers, saying they would approach the Presidium for corrective
action.
Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda and
Senate Deputy President Mike Nyambuya separately expressed concern over poor
attendance by members of the Executive during sittings of both Houses for
question and answer sessions last week.
Adv Mudenda was the first to express disappointment over
the ministers’ no-show last Wednesday
and directed Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda to contact the Chief
Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, to
find out what prevented some ministers from attending Parliament.
“Let me also advise the House that this has been the worst
non-attendance by Honourable Ministers. Whatever answer I will get from the
Clerk of Parliament, I will make sure that this is brought to the attention of
His Excellency the President this (last Wednesday) afternoon,” said Adv Mudenda
to a wild applause from backbenchers.
The following day, Cde Nyambuya, who was presiding over
Senate proceedings, also expressed disappointment over poor attendance of
ministers.
“I must hasten to add that I am disappointed by the low
turnout of ministers. In my opinion, the ministers are not taking this Chamber
seriously. We will have to take the necessary measures to try and correct the
situation but on your behalf, I must register my disappointment.
“Senators are supposed to get fair answers for their
concerns and it is not possible when you have only two ministers. I commend the
two ministers who have come,” said Cde Nyambuya.
“We have only received an apology from one minister,
Honourable (Kirsty) Coventry, the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and
Recreation. We have not received any apology from any other minister and this
is not acceptable; it is not acceptable at all. Let us make do with what we
have for today (last Thursday) but I can assure you we are going to write to
the highest authorities.”
The non-attendance of ministers and their deputies has been
a thorny issue in Parliament.
Adv Mudenda has since said there is need to invoke
provisions of Parliament’s Standing Orders to deal with the problem through the
introduction of punitive measures for those who fail to attend without
reasonable cause. Herald
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