MPs should boycott useless Parliamentary Committees
Friday, August 28, 2015
Standing Committees which are created for the life of a Parliament, Sessional Select Committees which stand dissolved at the end of each and every Parliamentary session, Special Select Committees which are constituted when the need arises to deal with a matter deemed to be requiring special attention by the National Assembly and Portfolio Committees which are created for the life of a Parliament with a special sectoral mandate.
There are currently eleven Standing Committees; Committee of Selection, Business Advisory Committee, Committee of the National Assembly Staff, Committee on Members' Rights, Interest and Privileges, Standing Orders and Reforms Committee, Parliamentary Caucus on Women, Public Accounts Committee, Finance and Estimates Committee, Committee of Chairpersons of Parliamentary Committees, Committee on Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises and Committee on Subsidiary Legislation.
It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...