RULING BY THE HON MADAM SPEAKER ON A POINT OF ORDER  RAISED ON FRIDAY, 7TH JULY, 2023 BY MR M MUTELO, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR MITETE CONSTITUENCY AGAINST MR M KAFWAYA, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR LUNTE CONSTITUENCY ON WHETHER HE WAS IN ORDER TO STATE THAT THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND NATIONAL PLANNING HAD VIOLATED THE CONSTITUTION BY NOT PRODUCING A FINANCIAL REPORT AS REQUIRED BY LAW WHEN THE PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT HAD EQUALLY NOT SUBMITTED THE SAID REPORT SINCE THE ENACTMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION IN 2016

Hon Members, the House will recall that on Friday, 7th July, 2023, when the House was considering Question for Oral Answer No 339, and Hon E Muchima, MP, Acting Minister of Energy, was about to respond to a supplementary question, Mr M Mutelo, Member of Parliament for Mitete Constituency, raised a Point of Order. The Point of Order was against Mr M Kafwaya, Member of Parliament for Lunte Constituency. In his Point of Order, Mr M Mutelo, MP, cited Standing Order 65 of the National Assembly, Standing Orders, 2021, which provides for the content of speech during debate.
In his Point of Order, Mr Mutelo, MP, stated that in the five (5) years that the Patriotic Front party had been in power, since the amendment of the Constitution in 2016, he had never seen the Minister of Finance lay the financial report on the table of the House. He, therefore, inquired whether Mr M Kafwaya, MP, was in order to state that the Hon Minister of Finance had abrogated the Constitution by not producing a financial report as required by law. 

Hon Members, in her immediate response, the Hon Madam First Deputy Speaker reserved her ruling.  I have studied the matter and will now render my ruling. 

Hon Members, in studying this matter, I had recourse to the verbatim record of proceedings of Friday, 7th July, 2023. I note that this Point of Order stems from a matter of urgent public importance raised by Mr M Kafwaya, MP.  In raising the matter, Mr Kafwaya, MP, asked whether the Hon Minister was in order to circumvent constitutional provisions by neglecting to lay the 2022 financial report of the Republic, and the Auditor General’s opinion by 30th June, 2023. 

Hon Members, the Hon Madam First Deputy Speaker, dismissed the question for failing to meet the admissibility criteria for a matter of urgent public importance. She, however, guided Mr M Kafwaya, MP, to file in an urgent question so that the matter could be addressed in the House.

Hon Members, it is clear from the foregoing that the Hon Madam First Deputy Speaker had already provided guidance on the subject matter of the present Point of Order. Therefore, raising a Point of Order on a matter on which the Madam First Deputy Speaker had already guided amounted to a challenge on a decision of a presiding officer.  In view of the foregoing, the Point of Order is inadmissible.

I thank you.
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