Speaker of Parliament clarifies urgent oral question

Speaker of Parliament Doctor Jiko Luveni today clarified why she did not allow an urgent oral question about the shortage of medicine at the CWM hospital in the April parliament sitting.

Luveni told the parliament that a written copy of the question must be delivered to the Secretary General one hour before the sitting.

She says the question must be of an urgent character and relates to a matter of public importance.

Luveni says she considers two points while looking at urgent oral questions and that includes whether it is a matter of public importance and did something happen in the last two to three days that meant that a member of parliament could not submit the question through the available processes.

The Speaker of Parliament says the urgent oral question about the shortage of medicine by NFP Leader Professor Biman Prasad was of national importance but did not relate to a specific issue or event that had occurred in the past two or three days before the sitting.

She says the question could have been submitted within the normal notice period or could have been submitted or answered any day during the week.

Luveni says the question by Professor Biman Prasad was of national importance but it could not be submitted within the four day period.