Ndugai calls for a fresh Bunge start

Dodoma. National Assembly Speaker Job Ndugai yesterday chaired a House session being the first time after several months of absence whereby he urged Members of Parliament (MPs) to unite in their key mandate.

In a call that should bring unity in an otherwise divided House, Mr Ndugai, who for several months was in India for treatment, reminded MPs that their core mandates included supervising the government and making laws.

“As MPs, we need unity, perseverance, respect and more importantly, knowledge of the House standing orders. We must take part in the committee meetings and those for the parliamentary sessions,” he said in an apparent reference to the division that occurred in Parliament that saw opposition MPs walking out each time Deputy Speaker Dr Tulia Ackson chaired the proceedings.

Dr Ackson got herself into the black book of the Opposition in May when she thwarted a plea from the bench to deliberate the expulsion from studies of about 8,000 University of Dodoma’s students as a matter of urgency.

This happened when Bunge reconvened on May 30 and the Deputy Speaker invited the deputy minister for Water and Irrigation, Mr Isaack Kamwelwe, so he could wind up debate on the ministry’s budget.

The Opposition camp opposed the move describing it as an abuse of parliamentary rules.

Opposition MPs John Mnyika (Kibamba-Chadema), John Heche (Tarime Urban-Chadema) and Esther Bulaya (Bunda Urban-Chadema) stood up, maintaining that the issue of Udom students be resolved before carrying on with any business.

Dr Ackson tried to restore order in the House but the Opposition disobeyed resulting into their expulsion from the debating chamber. Since then, they resorted to leaving the House each time the Deputy Speaker occupied the seat.