The amendments we have do not appear, according to the Hansard and the presentation, to be backed by any government policy, any Cabinet paper or resolution.
Therefore wherever it originated, every government department is ambushed to comment on it.
But I want to celebrate government departments that have been very candid and given their views, which sadly ought to have been the first things done before the legislative proposal came to Parliament.
As a joint committee, we will do our part to listen to government's discordant voices about the same issue.
It also projects the government very wrongly because when a government bill comes to the House, it should not have divergent views from government agencies.
Unless I am taken to be a prophet of doom, this portends very badly for the fate of this bill in the House. And, mostly likely, we will be having a government divided on the floor of the House unless miracles happen.
I must urge us as Parliament to be bold enough and return this legislative proposal to the sender.
If numbers were to force the bill into law, then obviously even the courts of law would have easy fodder for such a law.
A law needs to be clean, needs to be through consensus building and involvement of all stakeholders.
Failure to do so as required of us in the Constitution and statutes and the Standing Orders portends trouble for the proposal.
This is not the first time we are having government contradicting itself. When doing public participation at committee level it is not surprising that various agencies give divergent views.
We are at committee level listening to government agencies, when that should have been filtered and distilled through a Cabinet paper and policy.
The only surprise we are having is that we are doing public participation by government agencies, which is against procedure.
It is like every government agency is protecting its turf, resisting change and certain quarters of government are bulldozing change.
Whatever the fate of this bill, I am sure activists will find it very easy to bring it down.
Member of National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee spoke to the Star
