About the Speaker’s Authority:-

1.    It is stated that the Speaker has authorised that “Parliament” be recalled. The Speaker may have authority in certain circumstances to appoint a day for the Assembly to meet before the scheduled date but can the Speaker “authorise” that “Parliament” be recalled ? Under our Constitution, Parliament consists of the Assembly and the President. The Speaker is recalling Parliament? Does his authority extend to Parliament or only to the National Assembly. It is true that the terms “Parliament” and “Assembly” are often used interchangeably in common parlance but an official communique from the Speaker is expected to use the right term.

2.    The  communique states that that Parliament will be recalled to, “Pay tribute thereto”. The use of the word “thereto” is unfortunate as it can only refer to a thing and not a person. The wrongful use of the word in an official communique from the Speaker of the National Assembly on a solemn occasion is unfortunate and disrespectful.

About the Recall of Parliament:-

1.    The rule laid down in the Standing Orders is that at the close of any sitting, the Assembly is adjourned to a specified date. If Government requests  that the public interest requires that the Assembly shall meet at an earlier  time, then the Speaker, if he is satisfied that the public interest so requires, may appoint a time for the Assembly to meet and only Government business can be transacted on that occasion.

2.    In the present case, the recall of the Assembly is not being done under this provision of the Standing Orders as it is not Government business that will be transacted.

The Speaker has therefore announced that he is acting under Standing Orders 1 and 77.

3.    The Communique also states that the Speaker has “authorised” the recall of the Assembly. If he has authorised the recall, the request came from elsewhere. The communique does not state who made that request which was approved by the Speaker. 

4.    The Speaker has invoked Rule 77 of the SO. This is the second time that he is doing so in recent weeks.

Section 77 states as follows : “The Speaker shall have power to regulate the conduct of business in the Assembly in all matters not provided for in these Orders.”

What does conduct of business mean ? With regard to the practice of meetings in general, this would usually mean that in the  course of proceedings should a decision have to be taken and there is no prescribed rule on the matter then the Chair can decide. Is recall deemed to be regulating the conduct of business in the Assembly? Even if it is, then the matter of recall is specifically provided in a Standing Order and therefore can the Speaker still refer to Rule 77 which applies to matters not provided in the Orders ?

Any frequent use of Section 77  may effectively amount to writing into the Standing Orders anything that is not there because the Speaker has the power to regulate conduct of business and could lead to very serious consequences. It would be tantamount to the Speaker substituting himself for the Assembly which has the power to make the Standing Orders.

5.    Rule 1 which is also mentioned in the communique provides that : “In cases of doubt these Orders shall be interpreted in the light of the relevant practice of the Commons This clearly means  that  where there is a question of interpretation of the Standing Orders and there is doubt  as to its meaning then  the practice of the British House of Commons may be followed.

There may have been some doubt as to whether the Standing Orders allow the Speaker to “authorise” the recall of the Assembly in the present circumstances and the Speaker therefore referred to the practice of the House of Commons and found that the practice does indeed allow recall in the circumstances.

A special sitting of the Assembly to pay tribute to someone who has been a parliamentarian for over 20 years could have been handled in a more respectful manner.