Battlefield? Opposition MPs charge in a protest in Parliament after deputy Speaker Tulia Ackson turned down their request to suspend the House’s usual business in order to discuss the dismissal of over 7,000 students of University of Dodoma over enrolment irregularities. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
It was during the third session that MPs endorsed President John Magufuli’s first budget -- an ambitious Sh29.5 trillion revenue and expenditure plan for the 2016/2017 financial year. The debates were all good and intense but it was the divisions that reared their ugly heads among the legislators during this session that left a lot to be desired.
Dodoma. To many who religiously followed proceedings of the third session of the 11th Parliament, the outcome was possibly disappointing. This may as well pass as one of the worst sessions of the lawmaking pillar in recent years.
It was during the third session that MPs endorsed President John Magufuli’s first budget -- an ambitious Sh29.5 trillion revenue and expenditure plan for the 2016/2017 financial year. The debates were all good and intense but it was the divisions that reared their ugly heads among the legislators during this session that left a lot to be desired.
The verbal war turned into a series of dramatic walkouts by the Opposition bench each time the Deputy Speaker, Dr Tulia Ackson, chaired the sessions. The budget was almost approved without checks and balances from the minority side.
It was not amazing, therefore, that even some of the ruling party MPs, who remained in the debating chamber ended up spending a good chunk of their productive time castigating their opposition counterparts, spoiling the quality of their input to the Sh29.5 trillion revenue and expenditure plan.
Dr Ackson got into the black book of the Opposition bench in May this year after she thwarted a bid by the lawmakers who wanted the National Assembly to urgently deliberate on the expulsion of about 7,000 University of Dodoma students.
Bunge had reconvened at 4pm on May 30, when the Deputy Speaker invited Water and Irrigation deputy minister Isaack Kamwelwe to wind up debate on his ministry’s budget. It was clear she had no intention of giving in to the Opposition demands.
That set the ball rolling for what would turn out to be a battle for control and influence with opposition MPs accusing the Deputy Speaker of abusing Parliamentary Standing Orders.
Opposition MPs John Mnyika (Kibamba-Chadema), John Heche (Tarime Urban-Chadema) and Esther Bulaya (Bunda Urban-Chadema) stood up, maintaining that the issue of University of Dodoma students should be resolved before carrying on with any other business.
Dr Ackson tried to bring order into the House but the opposition could hear none of it, resulting into their expulsion from the debating chamber.
Since then, they resorted to walking out of the House each time the Deputy Speaker occupied the seat.
It has since been an issue that divides opinion. On one side is a group that is sympathetic to the opposition arguing that the Deputy Speaker is out to frustrate dissenting voices in the National Assembly. On the other are ruling party MPs and those that the opposition has no basis to complain since the Deputy Speaker is using Parliamentary Standing Orders in making her decisions. And, with some new faces in the House, including those that may not have taken their time to read and understand the standing orders, both parties’ arguments could be valid.
It was such a chaotic situation that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, found when he returned from India a few weeks ago. While pledging to reach out to the Opposition to douse the fire, the Speaker praised his deputy for taking care of business when he was out.
True to his promise, he has done that and the House was more organised, more united during the fourth session – which ended on Friday. It was by every measure different from the preceding meeting.
He set his tone right during the first day of the meetings. Chairing the parliamentary session on September 6, 2016 – which was his first meeting to lead after several months of absence when he was in India – Mr Ndugai called on MPs to unite towards their common assignment.
“As MPs, we need oneness, perseverance, respect and more importantly, knowledge for the House standing orders…..We must take part in the committee meetings as well as in the parliamentary sessions,” he said.
That call was cordially welcomed by some opposition MPs: “We believe the coming of the Speaker – who has shown political maturity – will change the way the House conducts its business,” said Mr Godbless Lema (Chadema - Arusha).
So finally, all MPs took part in all the eight meetings of the fourth session, which debated and approved a total of six laws.
They included the Access to Information, Bill 2016; the Valuation and Valuers Registration Bill, 2016; Government Chemist Laboratory Authority Bill, 2016; Chemist Professionals Bill, 2016; the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute Bill, 2016 and the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute Bill, 2016.
As is expected MPs from two different political leanings differed on many issues but the battleground seemed even -- and who were able to defend their arguments carried the day.
In fact, at one point, the debate emerged to be so intense that it almost turned into a battle of wits over knowledge of Parliamentary Standing Orders but finally, the MPs stood firm and came out united for their common goal of serving Tanzanians.
On Tuesday, MPs put their political differences aside and, under the guidance of Dr Ackson, unanimously agreed to sacrifice their day’s allowances to contribute towards donations for victims of the earthquake that left 19 people dead and over 250 injured in Kagera Region.
Adjourning the sessions until November 1, 2016, Mr Ndugai said he was happy that the leader of the government business in the House, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa and his opposition counterpart, Mr Freeman Mbowe, had led their various groups well during the entire two weeks that MPs have been meeting.
