Chief Administrative Secretaries will not be entertained on the floor of the House to respond to MPs’ questions, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has said.
In a communication relayed before the House on Thursday, the Speaker directed that only CSs will be allowed at the plenary on Wednesday afternoon to answer lawmakers' questions.
The Speaker directed that Cabinet secretaries must appear in person, warning against delegating the constitutional mandate.
The communication came on the day 50 CASs took oath of office after the House declined to conduct an approval hearing, saying it is not provided for in the Constitution.
“Only Cabinet secretaries are allowed under the amended Standing Order to come and answer questions raised by members,” the Speaker directed.
“There will be no delegation to anybody to come and answer the questions.”
CASs are regarded as assistant ministers of their line Cabinet secretaries in the day-to-day running of the affairs of their respective dockets.
MPs earlier this month adopted a report by the Committee on Procedure and House Rules that amended Standing Order 25A to allow a Cabinet Secretary to expound on government policy, reply to questions and provide reports concerning matters under their dockets.
In the new arrangement, Cabinet secretaries will now appear on Wednesday afternoon for three hours after the adoption of amendments to Standing Order 40.
But in a new directive, the House will extend sittings up to 9pm on Wednesdays to allow ample time for the CSs to respond to all the questions raised by members.
“You may have noticed that the amendment to Standing Order 40(3A) gives priority to Questions and Reports by Cabinet secretaries every Wednesday afternoon for a period not exceeding three hours,” Wetang’ula said.
“In this regard and in order to allow adequate time for members to dispense with questions and to compensate for the time set aside for questions during the sitting, the amended Standing Order 30(2) has varied the hours of the Wednesday afternoon sitting from 7pm to 9pm.”
The CSs will be fielding questions from a designated place adjacent to the public servants bench on the right of the Speaker, the same place used by Treasury CS while presenting budget highlights.
Members who ask questions will be allowed a maximum of two follow-up questions relevant to the original question while other MPs will get an opportunity to raise one question to the CS.
Wetang’ula further directed that CSs will still continue to appear before House committees to respond to questions and clarifications sought by members.