Introduction

The Journals and Table Office Department is the procedural office of the National Assembly of Zambia. For efficient service delivery to Members of Parliament, Presiding officers and staff as well as other Government institutions pertaining to Parliamentary Business, the department is divided into two sections, namely the Journals and Table Office and the Rules and Procedural Matters. It is the Journals and Table Office Department that Members of Parliament and staff of the National Assembly and staff from Government Ministries and Departments turn to for information on what business is under consideration by the House and what has been disposed of on any sitting day.  Therefore, the Journals and Table Office is aptly referred to as the “In Tray and Out Tray” of all Parliamentary business.

Vision and Mission Statements

The Vision Statement of the Journals and Table Office Department is:

“To be an icon of Parliamentary Practice and Procedure”

The Mission Statement of the Journals and Table Office Department is:

“To provide accurate procedural advice to Presiding Officers, Members of Parliament and the Clerks-at-the-Table on general questions of Parliamentary Procedure”

Structure and Key Personnel in the Journals and Table Office Department

The Journals and Table Office Section is currently headed by Mr Jimmy Sabi as Director, and the following is the structure:

The Journals and Table Office Section

The Director

The Deputy Director

The Senior Journals Clerk

The Journals Clerk X 2

The Journals Assistant

The Rules and Procedural Matters Section is currently headed by Mr Charles Hambote as Director, and the following is the structure:

The Director

The Deputy Director

The Senior Rules and Procedural Matters Officer

The Rules and Procedural Matters Officers X 2

The Rules and Procedural Matters Assistant X 2

Though each section of the department carries out distinct functions, they are fundamentally interdependent.

Main Duties of the Two Sections of the Department

The main duties of the Journals and Table Office Section relate to the following:

i) Preparation of the Order Paper

An Order paper is a document that shows the business to be transacted in the House on a particular Sitting day. The Journals Department is vested with the responsibility of preparing the Order Paper when the House is sitting, as provided by Standing Order 57. The Order paper is prepared and approved in advance before each sitting day. The document is important as it shows the Members of Parliament and the general public what items of business are scheduled to be considered by the House on a day’s sitting for instance, the document shows the Questions to be asked, Motions, and Ministerial Statements etc. An item not appearing on the Order Paper cannot be transacted by the House.

ii) Drafting of the Business Statement

The Business statement is a document that shows the business that is scheduled to be transacted fortnightly in the House in accordance with Standing Order 44. The Journals and Table office is charged with the duty of drafting the Business Statement when the House is sitting. The Business Statement shows agendas of business scheduled to be transacted, such as Bills, Committee Reports, Motions, Questions to be considered during that particular period, etc.

iii) Tabling of Annual Reports

In accordance with Standing Order 149, every Government Ministry, Department or Parastatal body, that is, any company, association, statutory board or institution of learning in which the Government has any interest, is required to submit its annual report for the preceding year to Parliament within fourteen days of the start of a new Session of the Assembly.  The purpose of this obligation is to keep Members of Parliament informed about the performance of public institutions. Although, in theory, annual reports and other Parliamentary papers are laid upon the Table of the House, in practice, these are sent directly to the Journals and Table Office.  The procedure followed for tabling of annual reports is outlined in Standing Order 149 of the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders, 2024.  Annual reports are recorded in the Votes and Proceedings showing the authorising Minister and the date on which they were tabled.  At the end of each meeting of the House, annual reports tabled during that meeting are indexed and bound into volumes for distribution and retention as permanent records in the Journals and Table Office.

iv) Processing of Questions

The Journals and Table Office is responsible for the processing of Questions submitted by Members of Parliament, and to advise Members on the content and admissibility of the submitted Questions. To give notice of Question, a Member hands or sends her/his Question to the Journals and Table Office.  The Question must be written on a specially designed form and should have the Member’s name, signature, constituency and date.  No notice of Question is accepted over the telephone.  When a notice of Question is given, the officers in the Journals and Table Office study the Question to ensure that it satisfies the admissibility rules governing Questions.  It is the duty of the officers in the Journals and Table Office to ensure that the Questions comply with the rules regarding the admissibility of Questions as listed in Parliamentary Practice by Erskine May and rules of the House enshrined in Standing Orders 77 and 84 of the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders, 2024.  If a Question breaches a rule, the Member is advised accordingly and if she/he is agreeable, the Question is amended to bring it in order.  The Question is then submitted to the Deputy Clerk and subsequently to the Clerk and Madam Speaker for final approval.

When the Clerk of the National Assembly and Speaker of the National Assembly have approved the Questions, they are sent to the appropriate Government ministries.  In order to smoothen the procedure of processing and approving Questions and above all guide Government ministries in differentiating the types of Questions and the notice periods, the White Order Book Form bears the following symbols:

Question for Oral Answer  - 7 days#

Questions for Oral Answer - 14 days~

Questions for Written Answer - 14 days

After seven or fourteen days, as the case may be, from the date of dispatch of a Question from the Journals and Table Office to the appropriate ministry, such a Question is considered to have matured and is typed on the Blue Notice Paper for distribution to all Members.  Questions appearing on the Blue Notice Paper may be placed on the Order Paper for asking in the House on any day.

Types of Questions

1. Questions for Oral Answer: These are tabled with the intention that they should be given oral answers in the House by Cabinet Ministers.  They are in the following categories:

a) Questions of a policy nature which require seven (7) days notice.  These include Questions such as:

• Mission statements of a ministry;
• Operations and programmes of a ministry; and
• Any other aspect of a ministry which require brief answers.

Questions in this category should be answered by the Government ministries within seven (7) days from the date the Questions are dispatched from the Office of the Clerk.

b) Non-Policy Questions which require fourteen (14) days notice.  These must meet the following tests of acceptability:

• Questions seeking lengthy replies;
• Questions seeking replies involving detailed statistical information; and
• Questions which require details and involving research.

Questions in this category should be answered by the Government ministries within fourteen (14) days from the date the Questions are dispatched from the Office of the Clerk.

2. Questions for Written Answer: These are Questions usually requiring lengthy answers which are not given on the floor of the House, but are printed directly in the Daily Parliamentary Debates.  Standing Order 80 (6) has also given power to the Hon Madam Speaker to reclassify Questions for Oral Answer to Questions for Written Answer.  This will apply to Questions for Oral Answer not of a policy nature, Questions requiring lengthy answers or detailed statistical data and research.

In summary, Questions for written answer are Questions where a Hon Member demands a written reply or that in the opinion of the Hon Mr Speaker, a Question would be best answered using a written reply.

3. Urgent Questions: These are Urgent Questions for Oral Answer asked under Standing Order 82 and are only admissible if the subject matter is judged by Madam Speaker to be of immediate public importance.

4. Grouped Questions: Where several questions on the same subject matter have been submitted to the Vice-President or Minister a single answer may be given to the House provided the Vice-President or Minister obtains prior authority from the Speaker to group the Questions. This procedure is provided for in the Standing Order 83.

5. Questions to the Vice President: In accordance with the provisions of Standing Order 87, Hon Members are allocated 45 minutes every Friday, to ask the Vice-President, as Leader of Government Business in the House, Questions without notice.  In the absence of Her Honour the Vice-President, there will be no question time.

6. Withdrawing a Question

A Member is free to withdrawal her/his Question.  The ministry to which the Question was sent is informed in writing of the withdrawal of the Question.  If the question is already on the Order Paper, it can only be withdrawn with the approval of the House.

v) Processing of Motions

Processing of a Private Members’ Motion is also the responsibility of the Journals and Table Office.  Government Motions are dealt with in the Office of the Clerk. A member who wishes to move a Motion in the House gives notice by delivering a copy of his proposed motion to the Journals and Table Office before the Motion is published or circulated. Officers in the Journals and Table Office check for the following points:

    a) a motion must comply with the admissibility rules governing motions;

    b) a motion must be in the form of an order or resolution of the House, that is, it should begin with the word “that”.  It should normally comprise only one sentence and it should be of reasonable in length;

    c) a motion must have a short title, which should not be the same as one which is already attached to another motion; and

    d) a motion must be fairly written and should include the names of the mover and the seconder, both of whom should append their signatures to it.  It should also include the date proposed for bringing it up.

Once the Journals and Table Office is satisfied that the motion meets all these requirements, the motion is passed on to Madam Speaker, through the Clerk for approval and a date is assigned when the motion should be brought up.  Thereupon, a Notice of Motion is circulated. A Notice of Motion may be withdrawn at any time by a Member proposing a motion and a Notice of Withdrawal is accordingly published immediately.  But once a motion has appeared on the Order Paper, it may only be withdrawn by leave of the House.

Once a Private Members’ Motion has been tabled and approved by the Hon Madam Speaker, the Clerk of the National Assembly informs the Permanent Secretary in the appropriate ministry about the Private Members’ Motion to be discussed in the House on a particular day in writing requesting him/her to prepare detailed notes for use by his/her Minister in clarifying issues expected to be raised by the Mover of a Motion.

Upon receipt of this information, the Permanent Secretary through his/her Parliamentary Liaison Officer must critically, analytically and conscientiously prepare comprehensive notes for use by a Minister.  The notes, which are a response to a Motion, should not contain half-truths or non-factual information and misleading conclusions which are harmful to the nation. 

vi) Custody of Documents

The Director of the Journals and Table Office is the custodian and examiner of all papers that are presented to the House.

vii) Preparing and Updating of the Members’ List

The officers in the Journals and Table Office are responsible for the compilation of Division Lists and Members’ Attendance Registers.  As soon as the date for the next meeting has been published, the officers update the list in readiness for the sittings of the house.

The duties of the Rules and Procedural Matters Section relate to the following:

i) Interpreting the Standing Orders

Article 77(1) of the Constitution of Zambia confers powers on the National Assembly to regulate its own procedure and make Standing Orders for the conduct of its business. Standing Orders consist of the rules and procedures that regulate the conduct of business in the House. The Rules and Procedural Matters Section of the Journals and Table Office Department is mandated with the responsibility to interpret the Standing Orders and their application in the conduct of business in the House. This ensures the orderly conduct of business in a consistent and predictable manner.

ii) Providing Procedural Advice

The section provides expert procedural advice to Presiding Officers, Members and Clerks-at-the Table before and during proceedings. This calls for alertness to the proceedings and the ability to anticipate any procedural requirements at any given time on any subject matter, as all business on the floor of the House is conducted within the provisions of the Standing Orders. The Section assists the Clerks-at-the-Table in responding to general questions of procedure.  The Section conducts research and looks for precedents when required by the Clerks-at-the-Table.

iii) Revising of all Procedural Documents

The Rules and Procedural Matters Section is vested with the mandate to revise all procedural documents, such as the Standing Orders, in accordance with the provisions of the Standing Orders; Members’ Handbooks and the manner of putting Questions, Motions etc.

vi) Preparing Votes and Proceedings

The Votes and Proceedings are the official public summerised record of the outcome of proceedings of the House.  In simple terms, they are the resolutions of the business of the House.  The Votes and Proceedings are a summary of the business transacted on each sitting day which includes the decisions arrived at by the House, the papers laid on the Table etc.  As minutes, the Votes and Proceedings only reflect what is done and decided and do not provide a full record of spoken proceedings. For instance, they only provide summaries of announcements and rulings made by the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker, ministerial statements, motions and questions considered by the House etc.

Although the Votes and Proceedings is a very important Parliamentary paper, its use outside Parliament is limited.  But for Members and officers of Parliament, it is an indispensable reference piece of work for historical and procedural precedents. The Votes and Proceedings are prepared and produced in pursuance of Standing Orders 58 of the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders 2024.  Each day when the House commences sitting, the officers in the Journals and Table Office closely follow the deliberations and minute the decisions that are arrived at.  When in doubt, the Clerks who sit at the Table during the sittings of the House are consulted.  In preparing these Votes and Proceedings, the officers ensure that there is consistency of style.  A style manual is used in this regard. 

The Votes and Proceedings are daily issues, each issue consisting of one or more loose sheets.  The pages are numbered throughout, from the beginning to the end of each Session of Parliament.  Each daily issue is approved by the Speaker or officer delegated by the Speaker.  It is only after they have been authorised by the Speaker that the Votes and Proceedings constitute the official daily record of proceedings of the Assembly.

v) Generating Correspondence

The Rules and Procedural Matters Section is responsible for generating correspondence on resolutions on Motions, directives etc, by Presiding Officers to other institutions outside of the National Assembly for smooth collaboration and efficient execution of the Business of the House.

vi) Preparing Speeches

The section is also responsible for the preparation of speeches that are read on the floor of the House, such as during the suspension of Standing Orders, Valedictory Services, and communication from Presiding Officers and other Members, such as the Vice President and the Leader of the Opposition.

vii) Indexing Order Papers and Votes and Proceedings

Further, the section ensures that the Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings are indexed and bound into volumes as permanent records for future reference.

CONCLUSION

The department is determined to achieve its vision and meet its objectives as set out in its mission statement.