Answers to parliamentary questions may not be released for publication until they have been given on the floor of the National Assembly or laid on the Table. This applies to both questions requiring only written replies (unstarred) and questions requiring written as well as verbal replies (starred questions).
Why it matters for the National Assembly proceedings?
This rule protects the primacy of parliamentary accountability over media management. If the government or anyone else could release answers to journalists before giving them to House, the Assembly would receive information second-hand. The Question Hour would lose its status as the primary forum of accountability and become merely a ratification of already-published information.
What is in it for citizens?
Citizens and journalists should alert the parliamentary authorities if advance copies of answers are publicly available as it is violation of Rule 85. The practice erodes the value of Question Hour as a real-time accountability mechanism.
Source: Rule 85, Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007
The proceedings of the National Assembly are governed by the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007. The current rules were passed on 23 February 2007 and have since been amended 21 times, most recently on 22 October 2024.
This post is part of FAFEN’s series on parliamentary literacy. Read more of this series here.
