Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Arnaud Nicolas MAWEL
Published on 2024-03-19 15:50:10
Two weeks after the parliamentary session opened for the ordinary March session, the Senate and the National Assembly are functioning with provisional bureaus. The Parliament is unable to fulfill its duties.
Since March 5, 2024, members of parliament have been in the midst of a parliamentary session. The proceedings began with opening plenary sessions under the leadership of provisional bureaus chaired by Laurentine Koa Mfegue in the Assembly and René Ze Nguele in the Senate. One of the key issues of the session is the renewal of the bureaus elected in March 2023. This operation is a crucial step that sets the tone for the rest of the parliamentary work, including the receipt of bills, examination, voting on laws, and oversight of the government’s actions.
According to Article 14, paragraph 2 of the National Assembly’s internal regulations, “no debate, no vote (…) can take place under the presidency of the Dean of Age”. This work can only be done after the election of the permanent bureau of each Chamber. Article 15, paragraph 4 states that at the beginning of the first ordinary session of the legislative year, “before any deliberation (…) the election of the permanent Bureau shall take place”. Article 18 of the same law empowers the permanent Bureau to preside over the deliberations of the National Assembly.
Similarly, Article 38, paragraph 1 of the Assembly’s internal regulations provides that the Chamber President receives bills, forwards them to the conference of presidents. It “decides on their admissibility and assigns them to a general committee”. This conference is composed of members of the permanent bureau, presidents of general committees, presidents of parliamentary groups, and a government member. The conference is also responsible for setting the agenda for the session.
14 days after the start of the session, neither the permanent bureau nor those of the committees have been renewed in either Chamber of Parliament. The work is therefore at a standstill. There are two weeks left until the end of the 30-day session in principle. The election of bureaus could take place this year as it did in 2023, towards the end of the session. The first session of the legislative year opened on March 3, 2023. It was on March 27 that the president of the National Assembly bureau and other members were elected. However, in 2022, the session opened on March 11, followed by the renewal of the Chamber bureaus on March 18.
Read the original article(French) on Journal du Cameroun
