A civil society activist has hailed the formation of the parliamentary specialised committees, saying it ended the six-month status of “a ceremonial parliament”.
The names of the specialised committee chairpersons and deputy chairpersons were announced by the parliament’s speaker, Jemma Nunu Kumba, during the assembly’s 8th sitting on Monday.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO), said the establishment of the committees now allows the parliament to exercise its oversight role to the fullest.
He said the committees will hold specific ministries accountable.
“Now that we are going to have a functional parliament that exercises the oversight role, because without specialised committees in the parliament; the oversight role of the parliament cannot be seen,” Yakani said.
“If they want to hold the executive accountable at the level of the parliament, it is not held by the speaker it is held by a chairperson of a specialised committee which has a reputation of a particular ministry.”
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});According to Yakani—who spoke to the media after the committees were announced—the parliament can only hold the executive accountable if the chairpersons, deputy chairpersons and the committee members take their jobs seriously.
After six months of acting as a ceremonial parliament, where MPs unanimously agree on items without deliberation at a committee level, Yakani said the oversight role of parliament will now be increased by the committees.
Issues at hand
“Now we need to see this parliament stand up to see the budget, and the budget must be so much focused on service delivery to citizens that we don’t see security being allocated nearly 50% of the budget; the more budget for security, the more insecurity,” he emphasized.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});“I would like to call upon this Parliament to uphold its independence role and to make sure that they hold the executive accountable because we have seen the executive operating for two years without a budget,” he emphasised.
On the other hand, CEPO’s official praised the parties who had submitted the names of the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons for the specialised committees and urged SSOA and OPP to do so as soon as possible.
Yakani stated the incumbent party, the SPLM, and the SPLM-IO did very well on gender representation in the lists they presented.
However, he said the SPLM party did not fully implement the 35 per cent affirmative action provided by the agreement.
Yakani claimed the delay by OPP and SSOA in nominating members for the positions in the committees is due to the fear of involving women in the committee leadership.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});He warned that civil society would use legal means to punish any party that violated the 35% rule.
“I would like to convey this message to OPP and SSOA that any violation of the women with regard to the 35 per cent as their seats of 35 per cent for chairpersons and deputy chairpersons are taken, we will not allow that to go unaccounted for. We will push for accountability for that,” Yakani stressed.
So, please, OPP and SSOA, we are waiting for your names, and please bring them on time,” he warned.