Makinda blames legislators over failure to amend laws

Dodoma. Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Anne Makinda, has blamed MPs for their failure to draft and table bills to enact or amend national laws.

Adjourning Parliament Saturday afternoon, Ms Makinda said there was no point for the MPs to continue blaming the government for embracing outdated and ineffective laws.

“Our new standing orders give powers to an MP or any Committee to draft a law and table a bill in Parliament for enactment of a law. And we have an office and experts to guide MPs on how to draft a bill. Therefore, don’t continue blaming the government for not bringing amendments. You have the opportunity to do so,” she said.

Ms Makinda’s remarks followed criticism by lawmakers over ineffectiveness of a number of laws, notably the Public Procurement Act. Debating reports by three oversight committees, MPs noted, for instance, that the government was losing a lot of money through the procurement law. They noted that some public servants have been abusing the law by colluding with dishonest businessmen and quoting prices which were three times the market price for goods and services procured by the government.

In his report, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Mr Zitto Kabwe, noted that some public firms have been abusing procurement regulations using the said law.

He said reports by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) indicated that a number of public institutions have not even established procurement units as required by the law.