Constitutional committee not consulted enough – Swartbooi
Landless People’s Movement (LPM) lawmaker Bernadus Swartbooi says the role of the Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs is undermined when legal bills are drafted and constitutional amendments are made.
Swartbooi, who said this should not be the case, made the comments during a committee meeting held in Swakopmund earlier this week.
According to him, often, the committee’s oversight function is ignored regarding the tabling of legal bills.
“The ministries come and submit their bills to parliament; ministers come and table their bills, but we have not been able to give insight, or oversight,” he said of the committee’s inability to effectively serve its mandate.
According to Swartbooi, the committee has a supervisory role that is not taken into consideration by the stakeholders resorting under its ambit.
“This committee - as far as we can see - has a particular supervisory role on the constitutional aspects of the country’s parliament and the offices, ministries and agencies that we must oversee, and the legal aspects of that, so that it connects to the constitutional mandate,” he said.
Too narrow
The functions of the committee were also too narrow, in the LPM lawmaker’s opinion.
“Here you have a very important committee that is far more unique and important than meets the eye... I don’t know who prescribed which institutions we must do the oversight function [for], [but] the offices, ministries and agencies we oversee, [it's] narrow. The staff complement is also narrow in terms of the legal officers who must sufficiently complement the work of these institutions,” Swartbooi said.
Another limiting factor for the committee was its inability address shortcomings in the constitution.
“There are issues the Law Society of Namibia must deal with. There are issues we must look at in terms of law reform of our taxes. There is so much this body can do, even constitutional amendments - there are gaps our constitution must address which we did not foresee,” he said.
Swartbooi, who said this should not be the case, made the comments during a committee meeting held in Swakopmund earlier this week.
According to him, often, the committee’s oversight function is ignored regarding the tabling of legal bills.
“The ministries come and submit their bills to parliament; ministers come and table their bills, but we have not been able to give insight, or oversight,” he said of the committee’s inability to effectively serve its mandate.
According to Swartbooi, the committee has a supervisory role that is not taken into consideration by the stakeholders resorting under its ambit.
“This committee - as far as we can see - has a particular supervisory role on the constitutional aspects of the country’s parliament and the offices, ministries and agencies that we must oversee, and the legal aspects of that, so that it connects to the constitutional mandate,” he said.
Too narrow
The functions of the committee were also too narrow, in the LPM lawmaker’s opinion.
“Here you have a very important committee that is far more unique and important than meets the eye... I don’t know who prescribed which institutions we must do the oversight function [for], [but] the offices, ministries and agencies we oversee, [it's] narrow. The staff complement is also narrow in terms of the legal officers who must sufficiently complement the work of these institutions,” Swartbooi said.
Another limiting factor for the committee was its inability address shortcomings in the constitution.
“There are issues the Law Society of Namibia must deal with. There are issues we must look at in terms of law reform of our taxes. There is so much this body can do, even constitutional amendments - there are gaps our constitution must address which we did not foresee,” he said.
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