After a Starred Question is answered by a minister in the National Assembly, any member, not just the questioner, may ask supplementary questions to elicit further clarification. Not more than two supplementary questions may be asked per question. The Speaker disallows supplementary questions that raise new matters, violate admissibility rules, or constitute an abuse of the right to ask questions.
Why it matters for the National Assembly proceedings?
Supplementary questions make oral Question Hour a genuine exchange rather than a prepared statement reading. They allow members to probe inconsistencies or gaps in ministerial answers in real time. The two-question limit preserves time for other questions on the list while still allowing meaningful follow-up.
What is in it for citizens?
The quality of supplementary questions — whether they genuinely press for information or merely add political commentary — is one measure of parliamentary accountability in action. FAFEN’s parliamentary monitoring records which members are most active in asking supplementary questions, giving citizens a picture of who uses Question Hour most effectively as an accountability tool. FAFEN has also documented that the Chair sometimes allow more than two supplementary questions during Questions Hours, against the provision of Rule 84.
Source: Rule 84, 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.
