Bunge Steering Committee sits without PAC, LAAC chairs.

NO negotiations are going on between Speaker of the National Assembly and the Opposition Camp with regard to standoff that surfaced after the formation of Parliamentary Standing Committees.

Instead, it has been reiterated that Standing Orders would never be violated to satisfy individuals’ demands. Opposition members expressed dissatisfaction over the formation of the Parliamentary Standing Committees as announced by the Speaker, Mr Job Ndugai, citing flaws.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Parliament’s Head of Information, Education and Communication Unit, Mr Owen Mwandumbya insisted that formation of the committees were in line with House orders.

As of yesterday it was still unclear whether office of the Speaker had started working on the opposition’s complaints related to the formation of the committees.

Opposition MPs through Chadema Deputy Secretary General (Mainland) John Mnyika had earlier told reporters that they would issue a statement on Friday to make their stance public over the pronounced parliamentary committees.

Mnyika said they were not happy with the nomination of the Speaker. As of yesterday, the opposition neither issued a statement nor participated in the election.

Efforts to reach Chadema’s Mnyika to comment on the same proved futile. Mr Owen declined commenting on the issue and chose to remain adamant that Standing Orders stipulated everything.

“Receiving a letter or not is not an issue, the key point here is that committees’ formation is guided by Standing Orders and that is what the Speaker did,” he noted.

However, he was optimistic that the opposition would submit names of their MPs who would be voted to lead oversight committees which as of yesterday remained without chairpersons. Watchdog/oversight committees are Public Account (PAC) and Local Authorities Accounts (LAAC).

According to Section 116 (11) of Parliament’s Standing Orders, parliamentary oversight committees are to be chaired by opposition MPs. While the two committees still go without chairpersons, today the Steering Committee is meeting among others, to discuss crucial issues relating to the next meeting slated for Tuesday.

Mr Owen said since the mentioned committees had not elected their chairpersons, the deputies would take charge as representatives. Steering Committee is formed by chairpersons from all Standing Committees. This, means PAC and LAAC will be represented by deputy chairpersons.

Industry, Trade and Environment Committee held election yesterday and picked Peter Kafumu and Vicky Kamata chairperson and deputy chairperson respectively.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa chaired a meeting on Friday and yesterday convened by the Speaker to deliberate on various issues for the MPs.

According to Mr Owen, through such meetings, MPs were enlightened on a number of issues including ethics, role of MPs in national security and separation of power.