All presidential ordinances promulgated during the recess of the Parliament must be laid on the Table of the National Assembly at the start of the next session. A member may then move a disapproval resolution with three clear days’ notice. If a disapproval resolution passes, all other resolutions about the same ordinance lapse. The disapproval is published in the Gazette and notified to the relevant Ministry.
Why it matters for the National Assembly proceedings?
The ordinance tabling and disapproval mechanism reflects the constitutional balance between executive ordinance-making power and parliamentary sovereignty. The President may promulgate ordinances when Parliament is not in session — but Parliament’s accountability over those ordinances is preserved through mandatory tabling. The disapproval mechanism gives the Assembly a formal instrument to override executive legislation.
What is in it for citizens?
The governments may sometimes rely heavily on ordinances to legislate between sessions. The number promulgated, how many were converted to law, and how many were subject to disapproval resolutions are revealing indicators of the executive-legislative balance. FAFEN publishes ordinance tracking data as part of its legislative monitoring work on its Open Parliament portal.
Source: Rule 170, 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.
