They will receive half of their salaries and allowances
CCM lawmakers debate three bills on their own
The MPs, according to Speaker Anne Makinda, will not enter the House or be allowed to be near parliamentary grounds until Thursday next week when President Jakaya Kikwete is expected to dissolves it.
Soon after their suspension, the government tabled three Bills that triggered chaos in the House on Friday, leaving Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) legislators present to debate the bills single handedly.
The Bills are Petroleum Bill 2015, Oil and Gas Revenue Management Bill 2015 and the Tanzania Extractive Industry (Transparency and accountability) Bill 2015.
The Opposition camp has a total of 90 members. Therefore the remaining half is likely to be back in debating chamber tomorrow.
Information gathered by this newspaper had it that Leader of Opposition Camp in the House Freeman Mbowe and other MPs such as James Mbatia are likely to turn up in House tomorrow after being outside Dodoma on othe duties.
Nyamagana Member of Parliament, Ezekia Wenje (Chadema) was first to be suspended after the Speaker noted that he was the ring leader of the chaos, and that he had violated some of the House’s standing orders.
Shortly after Wenje was ordered to leave the Parliament, other opposition MPs opted to keep on standing as they shouted to Speaker Makinda, trying to convince her to postpone tabling of the three bills on oil and gas.
“I want all of you to sit down…what you are doing is against the parliamentary rules and regulations. You cannot stand while the Minister is tabling his report. I am ordering all of you to leave the House,” said Makinda as she mentioned the names of the suspended MPs.
Earlier, before he left, Wenje accused Speaker Anne Makinda of biasness against opposition legislators.
He claimed that Mbozi West MP, David Silinde (Chadema) was not punished by the House’s Standing Committee on Privileges, Ethics and Powers but he was blocked from entering the parliament yesterday morning.
“David Silinde was not mentioned by the committee…he was not included in the list of punished MPs but you ordered police officers to bar him from entering the House. This is unfair,” Wenje said.
Responding, Makinda said that David Silinde was mentioned in her list that was read earlier yesterday morning. She said: “What happened was just a typing omission…he was liable for punishment.”
Makinda noted that if the opposition legislators wanted to block tabling of the petrol and gas bills, they would have lobbied with the specific committee so that it convinces the government to remove them like what stakeholders did before tabling of the Access to Information Bill, 2015.
She explained that the MPs had to use the standing orders 88 (1) to request the Speaker to postponed tabling of the bills, thus allowing the legislator to bring the schedule of amendments. She said that responsible minister is also allowed to remove the bill anytime using section 90 of the parliamentary regulations.
“They were supposed to use the above mentioned rules. Their motion had to pass through required process if they really wanted the House to suspend tabling of the bills,” she said.
She defended the decision to table the bills under certificate of urgency saying that it was a normal procedure because the specific bills have passed through all the stages and were debated by the committee.
She said that refusal of the bills by stakeholders in the seminar did not bar the committee from proceeding with tabling of the bills. She said, “Lobbyists are allowed in every country…their opinion does not bar the committee from implementing its duties.”
The speaker also announced that the banned MPs would received half their salaries and other allowances.
Later, the three bills namely, the Petroleum Bill 2015, Oil and Gas Revenue Management Bill 2015 and the Tanzania Extractive Industry (Transparency and Accountability) Bill 2015 were tabled and debated.
Meanwhile, reading the verdict of other MPs who were summoned to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Privileges, Ethics and Powers, Chairman, Brig. Hassan Ngwilizi said: “David Silinde (Mbozi West-Chadema) will not attend the remaining parliamentary sessions starting today.”
Ngwilizi noted that the committee had warned Joseph Selasini (Rombo-Chadema) and Khalifa Suleiman Khalifa (Gando-CUF), thus they were allowed to attend the parliamentary proceedings.
On Friday, Brig Ngwilizi said that Rajab Mohamed Mbarouk (Ole-CUF) and Peter Msigwa (Iringa Urban-Chadema) will miss just two sessions.
Speaking to newsmen in Dodoma yesterday, the opposition MPs vowed to continue pushing for their agenda in the parliament.
John Mnyika who is Chadema’s Deputy Secretary General (Mainalnd) said they have summoned their fellows across the country to be in Dodoma by today.
He said: “We have summoned all the opposition MPs wherever they are in the country…they will go in the House to push Speaker of the National Assembly Anne Makinda to observe parliamentary standing orders.
However, the two MPs Joseph Selasini (Rombo-Chadema) and Khalifa Suleiman Khalifa (Gando-CUF) denied to have confessed against the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Privileges, Ethics and Powers, which is chaired by Brig Hassan Ngwilizi.
“We did not apologise as they claim…our stand will be known inside the House today,” said.
Earlier, Ngwilizi informed the house that the two MPs have confessed against the committee, so they are allowed to attend the parliamentary proceedings.
Singida East legislator, Tundu Lissu said according to section 80 (1) of the parliamentary standing orders, the three bills were to be announced in the government gazette two times before they are tabled in the National Assembly.
Lissu said the bills were only announced in the gazette once on May 29th, 2015. He said the bills were to be announced for second time on June 6th, 2015.
“Speaker Makinda is violating the rules and regulations…the bills didn’t pass through all the procedures. Actually, I wanted to ask for her guidance on this matter the very day she decided to bar me and my colleagues from attending the meetings,” he noted.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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