An uproar rocked the House for the third day in a row on Saturday as opposition MPs attempted to interrupt the tabling of the extractive industry bills by standing up, shouting and generally being disorderly as they sought the Speaker’s guidance. Amid chaotic scenes, the Speaker ordered the protesting legislators out of the House.
They were led by the more vocal Nyamagana lawmaker, Ezekiel Wenje (Chadema), who was escorted from the debating chamber by the sergeant-at-arms, followed by 35 others who willingly walked out. The Speaker, however, later attributed the chaos to ignorance of Parliamentary Standing Orders.
“Had the MPs cared to listen, study and understand the standing orders, we would not be seeing these shameful acts in the House,” Ms Anne Makinda was quoted as saying. It is very unfortunate that such acts are occurring at a time when the House is nearing its time to dissolve.
And, it is still shocking that up to now there are some members of Parliament who are not aware of the standing orders. MPs were elected by the electorate to represent the interests of their constituencies and voters. Creating unnecessary chaos is not the best way to represent their constituencies, taking into consideration that there are many ways they can follow to address their grievances.
The Speaker highlighted options the MPs could have used to push their agenda. These included moving a motion in the House for suspension of deliberations on the bills to allow any legislator intending to make amendments to the documents to do so.
This means that there was no need for the honourable members to behave in the manner they did, as it turned the House into a chaotic place.
Though the Parliamentary Powers, Privileges and Ethics Committee ruled to bar scores of MPs from attending the current meeting and having their allowances halved, and not being allowed within the vicinity of the parliament building, more still needs to be done to preserve the honour of the House.
Although the current parliament is nearing its end measures should be taken so that future parliaments will not be rocked by the same problems.
More strict measures, such as heavy fines and scrapping of all allowances, should be imposed to maintain order. MPs are educated on standing orders when they get into Parliament for the first time and there is no excuse for failure to obey them.
There is also no room for ignorance because those are regulations that guide them. Flouting of standing orders should carry with it deterrent sanctions to restore and maintain honour and order in the House.
It is high time honourable MPs behaved with the honour that is entitled to them.
/Daily News.
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