Water For Justice

MPs QUESTIONS MOVED FROM TUESDAYS TO THURDAYS

A motion intended to change approach of asking and answering of questions by Members of the National Assembly to Cabinet Ministers from Tuesdays to Thursdays has been adopted by the House.

The move followed a motion proposed by the leader of the House, Mr. Lesao Lehohla in the national assembly on Friday this week.

Mr. Lehohla, said the reasons for the change are that Tuesdays are normally the days set aside for cabinet ministers' meeting and that they do not have enough time to answer questions.

The leader of the House said, the government considers the answering of questions by cabinet Ministers as important since some of the questions emanate from the electorate or affect them in one way or the other.

"Some cabinet Ministers could not cope by attending the cabinet meetings, which sometimes takes longer than anticipated and then come back to answer probing questions in the Parliament on the same day,' he commented.

On the other hand, however, the leader of the Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) in the House, Mr. Kelebone Maope, said as much as he understood the reasons put forward for the motion, he did not understand how standing orders could be changed by a motion and not by an amendment bill to the law.

He also believed that the change of days will allow the cabinet ministers an ample time to answer questions satisfactorily and avoid a back log of deferred questions in the House.

Mr. Maope applauded the Ministers who take answering of questions serioulsy and lambasted those who do not do such, saying some of their questions are crucial and are part of parliamentary sessions, "hence there are standing orders regarding questions and answers."

On the other hand, Lesotho Workers Party (LWP) Representative in the National Assembly, Mr. Sello Maphalla also supported the motion, saying they were concerned with the number of questions being deferred by the ministers.

Mr. Maphalla also hoped that the change will allow the ministers to attend parliamentary sessions regularly without excusing themselves for attending cabinet meetings.

He further expressed hope that the time allocated for questioning and answering of questions by the Prime Minister should be extended as he believed it was not enough.

He said, the Prime Minister as the head of government needs time to elaborate on questions asked and that 20 minutes allocated to answer the questions could only accommodate two questions.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr. Refiloe Masemene seconded the motion, which was passed without objection by the House, and as a result of the change questions and answers will now be on Thursdays and no longer on Tuesdays.