Quorum of the National Assembly
Dithapelo Keorapetse | Friday August 7, 2015 17:31
The Speaker of the National Assembly has recently sternly rebuked Members of Parliament (MPs) for failing to quorate and in particular criticised those who sit for a few minutes and leave just to mark themselves present and get sitting allowance. However, the Speaker ought to address the issue further and holistically rather than deal with topics related to the issue
According to Standing Orders number 17.1 the quorum of the sitting of the House shall be one-third of the Membership of the House. Clause 17.2 provides that if the attention of the Speaker is drawn to the fact that a quorum is not present he or she shall direct that MPs be summoned. If after 15 minutes have expired he or she is satisfied that a quorum is not present the Speaker shall adjourn the Assembly without question put and the Assembly shall then stand adjourned in accordance with Standing Order No. 25.
The same principle also applies to Committee of the whole Assembly and other Committees of Parliament. Standing Order 17.4 deals with quorum during a division or electronic voting over a motion or a Bill or question in that a division with no quorum is invalid. Why does the 11th Parliament struggle with a quorum is what many people ask themselves. Many Batswana think MPs are irresponsible because they do not attend Parliament and this is a very easy story to sell to the unsuspecting members of the public.
Important political activities such as internal party elections where MPs and or their allies in and out of the Parliament are running campaigns for party positions affect a quorum. During the period preceding the ruling party congress for instance Parliament struggled with a quorum in the House and Parliamentary Committees because MPs were busy campaigning for themselves or their allies. Bye elections in Mochudi Bokone and now Goodhope-Mabule have affected a quorum. Some Ministers have been deployed to the Borolong area to canvass for support indirectly through Kgotla meetings and some MPs are also there for direct political campaign.
The stakes are high in the by election and many MPs from both sides are campaigning in the area.Another issue that is worth mentioning is how Parliament is run, especially the issue of Government Business compared to Private Members Business and the arrangement of and continuous variation of the Order Paper. There is an argument that Parliament business is predominately Government Business. In other words, most of the time MPs are in Parliament they are basically helping the Government to push their business or are helping the ruling party to govern. The number of minutes and hours spend on motions, themes, questions and other business of MPs is far less than the time spent on Government Business. Sometimes Ministers table motions to alter the Order Paper so that Government Business takes precedence. MPs especially in the opposition complain that at times they had not been prepared for such variations. In fact some complain that they can’t just be in the House to hold a quorum for the Government.
This issue must be addressed by balancing MPs business with Government Business. If there is no Government Business, it doesn’t matter if there are themes, questions, motions or anything from MPs, the House adjourns. This must be addressed. There are of course a few MPs who are perpetual truants. There is one or two such from the opposition and it is very insignificant while on the other side of the isle it is worse. There are ruling party MPs who seldom attend Parliament and some are known for sitting few minutes and leaving.
There are Ministers who only come to Parlaiment if they have a question to answer, Government motion to table, a Bill to present or a paper to table and some once they are done they leave. Some MPs spend a lot of time at the Tea Room chatting for various reasons of course. Some are bored by the manner in which the business is conducted or how some debate or contribute.
It is true that Parliament is boring to some MPs because the ruling party makes it dull deliberately for political expediency. For example imagine if the President and his Vice fielded questions from MPs at least two days fortnightly. Imagine how it would be if standards were a bit high and MPs meaningfully debated and not just speaking to be heard on radio and validate their presence. Some MPs are frustrated because they are unable to meaningfully contribute because Parliament is structured in a manner that favours the ruling party. So MPs are not entirely at fault. The Speaker working with party leaders and whips should address these issues. Sometimes MPs kill a quorum for strategic reasons and political posturing.
Opposition MPs have sometimes killed a quorum in the public interest, sometimes to prolong a debate because on the issue in question the people had not been consulted and MPs were ambushed with variation of the Order Paper or agenda. The last point is on the sitting allowance of Members of Parliament. Some MPs are clear that they can only come to Parliament when it is absolutely necessary eg when they have a question, theme, motion or private members Bill because they are busy trying to make ends meet outside.
They calculate and weigh whether sitting in the House or Committee for P300 listening to deliberations which are of no public interest like pushing for making many civil servants essential service or in instances where the ruling party is abusing its majority. Some MPs say they ought to reserve a right to participate or not Those who are interested in following up the issue should scrutinise Parliamentary independence, it’s processes and administration.