AfricaPress-Tanzania: ONE of the aspects that the 11th Parliament boasts of is its outstanding performance that may not tally the previous ones.
Having been inaugurated by President John Magufuli on November 20, 2015, the 11th Parliament under Speaker Job Nduga and his deputy, Dr Tulia Ackson has presided over a number of important matters besides its core functions.
Deliberating on and passing budgets that have catapulted the country’s development is a duty that has been executed with high level of competence by Members of Parliament.
Understandably, the Parliament has four main functions: Legislation (making laws), representation (acting on behalf of voters and citizens), scrutiny (examining the government), and formation of government.
Ministers and their deputies, though it was their core duty, deserve kudos for the way in which they performed their duties in and outside the Parliament.
Undoubted, those who failed to discharge their responsibilities or failed to keep pace at which President John Magufuli was riding, were dropped from the cabinet.
All this happened to speed up development that Tanzania, according to President Mafuguli, has been denied for years.
Presenting his introductory remarks in Dodoma that focused on the five-year performance of Parliament before giving the floor to President Magufuli to speak to the nation.
Speaker Job Ndugai said the 11th Parliament performed its duties with high level of competence.
According to Speaker Ndugai, the11th Parliament deliberated on and passed a total of 60 bills that were all assented to and signed by the President to become Acts of Parliament (Laws).
One of the outspoken Bills that won the hearts and minds of Tanzanians is the Mining Act that saw mineral rights being changed.
The reviewed Mining Bill (Act) has enabled the government to have a fair share in mines, including owning 16 per cent in the newly formed company-Twiga Mineral Corporation, an entity that is jointly owned by the government and Barrick Gold Corporation.
Furthermore, Mr Ndugai said a total of 3,376 Basic Questions were asked by Members of Parliament and answered by ministers.
Basic questions normally focus on tracking government implementation of various projects, including updating voters and the general public on important issues.
Kassim Majaliwa, the Prime Minister of Tanzania, responded to a total of 172 questions asked by MPs during Prime Minister’s Questions and Answers sessions (PMOs) which is officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister.
In Tanzania, the session of the Prime Minister’s Questions is held every Thursday when the Parliament is in session and only when the Prime Minister is in the debating chamber.
During the 11th Parliament, Tanzanians witnessed a total of 38 resolutions being passed, including the one that acknowledged the outstanding performance of President Magufuli, especially in the manner he led the country throughout the period when the nation was fighting against Covid-19.
Most importantly, the 11th Parliament would also be remembered through its four Special Parliamentary Committees it formed to investigate and study the trade on Tanzanite, diamond, natural gas and deep sea fishing.
The findings of the first two committees (Tanzanite and Diamond), uncovered gross inefficiency in handling of gemstones business in the country, hence, proposing, among other things, the splitting of the then Ministry of Energy and Minerals into the now Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Minerals.
After the findings, President Magufuli directed the Tanzania People’s Defense Forces (TPDF) to construct a wall around the Tanzanite mining site.
In his speech to MPs while he dissolved the Parliament, President Magufuli hailed the House for its outstanding performance that has immensely contributed towards changing the country’s development course.
“I should openly state that this Parliament has played a pivotal role in our development agenda,” the president acknowledged.
