1. Interpretation
1A. Oath of Allegiance
(1) Except in unavoidable eventualities surrounding the election to fill a vacancy in the Speakership of parliament, no Member of Parliament shall sit or vote therein or in any Committee thereof until he or she has taken and subscribed the Oath of Allegiance, as set out in the Third Schedule of the Constitution of Sierra Leone (Act No. 6 of 1991) hereinafter referred to in these orders as "the Constitution"
(2)The oath shall be administered by the Clerk of Parliament at the time appointed by these Orders.
(3) A Member may, in order to enable him to attend and take part in the proceedings of a committee meeting between the time of his becoming a Member designate of the House and the next sitting of the house thereafter, take and subscribe the said-Oath or make the said-Affirmation before Mr. Speaker. And the taking and subscribing of the Oath or the making of the Affirmation in such a manner shall suffice for all purposes of this Order. When an oath has been taken in such a manner, a report shall be conveyed to the House at its next sitting by Mr. Speaker.
2. Language
The proceedings and debates of parliament shall be in the English Language.
3. Seats in the House
(1)Mr. Speaker shall allocate a seat to each Member, along party lines, and may change such allocation where he thinks it necessary.
(2) A Member may speak only from the seat allocated to him.
4. Sessions, First Session of a New Parliament and Meetings
(1)(a) Sessions of Parliament shall commence in the manner prescribed by section 84 of the Constitution, and Parliament shall be dissolved in the manner prescribed by section 85 of the Constitution.
(b) At the commencement of the First Session of a new Parliament, after national presidential and parliamentary elections, and pursuant to a Presidential Proclamation, (subsection 1 of Section 84 of the Constitution) the Ceremonial State Opening of Parliament, in which the Presidential Address to Parliament on the state of the nation is delivered, shall be preceded by the due constitution of the house (the swearing-in of new members, the election of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, recognition of the Majority and Minority party Leaders of the House, the appointment of Members of the parliamentary select committees, especially the Committee of Selection and the Committee on Appointments and the Public Service) and the confirmation-hearings and parliamentary approval of Presidential nominees for ministerial and deputy ministerial appointments.
(2) During any one session, Parliament may adjourn for such periods as it may determine. If adjourned sine die, the date and hour of the commencement of the next meeting shall, subject to the proviso to paragraph (3) of this Order, be decided by Mr. Speaker, after consultation with the chairman of the business Committee and the Clerk of Parliament.
(3) Not less than twenty-one days before the date of a meeting, the clerk shall transmit to each Member a written notice specifying the date, time and place of such meeting.
Provided that:
(4) Reduction of the notice-period of 21 days shall be admissible, for the purposes of subsection 91)(e) of Section 77 of the Constitution and section 77 of these Orders, as good cause for absence from the sittings of the House for a period of fourteen days (or ore as Mr. Speaker shall decide) from the date of the first sitting of such an urgent summon, and especially so in the case of Members recessing outside of the country.
(5) When Parliament has adjourned to a specified date, no further notice shall be necessary unless that date is more than twenty-one days after the adjourned meeting.
5. SITTINGS
6. Adjournment of Parliament
7. Quorum
8. Election of Mr. Speaker (Section 79 of the Constitution)
9. Election of Deputy Speaker
10. Presiding in the House and in Committee
11. Duties of the Clerk
12. Duties of the Hansard and Committee Sections
13. Sergeant-at-Arms
14. Order of Business
(1) Unless Mr. Speaker otherwise directs, the business of each sitting day shall be transacted in the following order:-
15. Arrangement of Public Business
1. Public Business shall consist of motions and proceedings upon Bills.
2. Subject to the provisions of these Standing Orders Public Business shall have precedence on every day except on Wednesdays when Private Members’ business shall have precedence.
3. Public business shall consist of Government and Committee motions, as well as proceedings upon bills sponsored by Committees and Ministers, and shall be set down in such order as the Business Committee think fit.
4. Private Members’ Business in the form of motions or bills, shall be set down on the Order Paper for a particular day in the order in which they were entered in the Order Book for that day, and business so entered shall take precedence over any business postponed from an earlier day.
16. Business Statement
Every Thursday the Chairman of the Business Committee shall make a statement in the House of the business arranged for the succeeding week, but if the first week of any meeting begins on a day earlier than Thursday, he shall make a statement of the business arranged for that week, if possible, on the first day of such Meeting. On the last day of each Meeting he shall arranged for the first week of the next meeting. He may make supplementary statements from time to time.
17. Petitions
1. Every application to Parliament shall be in the form of a petition and every petition shall be presented by some Member who shall affix his name at the beginning thereof.
2. A Member presenting a petition shall confine himself to a brief statement of the parties from whom it comes, the number of signatures attached to it and the material allegations contained in it, and to reading the prayer of such petition.
3. All petitions shall lie upon the Table without question put, unless a Member when presenting a petition move for it to be read, printed or referred to the Public Petitions Committee. In making such a motion he shall state concisely his reasons.
4. No debate shall be permitted on such motion, nor shall any other Member speak upon, or in relation to, such petition except to second such motion fully, after which the question thereon shall be put forthwith.
5. If a motion that a petition be read is carried, the Clerk shall read the petition.
6. No Member may present to Parliament a petition signed by himself, except as representative of a public incorporated body.
7. No petition shall be presented to Parliament, unless it shall have been endorsed by the Clerk, as being in accordance with the following rules:-
8. Parliament will not receive any petition which would dispose of or charge any public revenue or public funds or revoke or alter any disposition thereof or charge thereon, impose, alter or repeal any rate, tax or duty, unless the recommendation of the President has been signified thereto.
9. Parliament will not receive any petition on any matter for which there is a judicial remedy for which no application is made or which falls within the mandate of the Ombudsman.
18. Laying of Papers and Constitutional and Statutory Instruments
(1) The laying of Papers, treaties, agreements and Constitutional and Statutory Instruments involves the delivery in the office of the Clerk of sufficient copies thereof for distribution to Members of Parliament.
(2) The request that a paper or treaty or constitutional or statutory instrument be laid on the table shall be made to the Clerk of Parliament with an explanatory memorandum, which in the case of subsidiary legislations shall include a note on the objectives, where necessary, the consultation process with appropriate stakeholders, and other relevant information.
(3) Prior to and in preparation for the parliamentary ratification of treaties, agreements and conventions, such as those in subsection (4) of Section 40 and subsections (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) and (6) of Section 118 of the Constitution the relevant documents shall be tabled.
(4) Pursuant to subsection 7 of Section 118 of the Constitution, Parliament shall bee notified by the appropriate Minister or authority of all gifts donations, grants and pledges made to the State of Sierra Leone by the laying of such information on the table.
(5) Papers, such as government policy papers for the information of Parliament, the Reports and Annual Accounts of Statutory Corporations (SO …) shall be presented to parliament by a Minister or the Government, or, by the leave of Mr. Speaker, the Majority Party Leader of the House or his representative, and its presentation shall be entered upon the Votes and Proceedings.
(6) Committee Reports and Reports on International Conferences and Seminars shall be laid on the table by Chairpersons of Committees and Leaders of Delegations respectively, or their representatives.
(7) A Minister or Member on tabling a paper may make a short explanatory statement of its contents.
(8) A constitutional or statutory instrument shall pursuant to subsection (7) of Section 170 of the Constitution and Section 3 of the Constitutional and Statutory Instrument Act (Act No. 6 of 1991) be laid before Parliament in the manner set out in the preceding provisions of this order.
(9) All papers shall be ordered to lie upon the Table without question put.
19. Nature of Questions
20. Notice of Questions
(1) A question shall not be asked without notice, unless it is of an urgent character and the Member has obtained the leave of Mr. Speaker to ask it.
(2) Notice of a question may be handed by a member to the Clerk when Parliament is sitting or may be sent to or left at the office of the Clerk at any time during the hours prescribed for the purpose by Mr. Speaker. Every such notice must be signed by the Member giving it.
(3) A member who desires an oral answer to a question shall mark his notice with an asterisk and such a question shall be put down for a day to be arranged by the Clerk of Parliament, being a day not earlier than fourteen clear days after the day on which notice was given. A question not so marked may be put down for the next sitting day of Parliament and the answer when received shall be circulated with the Votes and Proceedings.
(4) Not more than two questions in the name of the same member may be placed upon the Order Paper for any one sitting.
21. Contents of Questions
22. Manner of asking and answering Questions
23. Personal Explanations
24. Questions for debate
25. Notice of Motions
(2) When notice of a motion is required, such notice shall be given in writing, signed by the member and addressed to the Clerk of Parliament. Such notice may be handed by a Member to the Clerk of Parliament, when Parliament is sitting, or may be sent to or left at the office of the Clerk during working hours.
(3) If Mr. Speaker is of the opinion that any notice of motion which has been received by the Clerk infringes the provisions of any Standing Orders, or is in any other way out of order, he may direct:-
(4) Except where it is otherwise provided in any Standing Order, not less than seven days notice of any motion shall be given unless it is a Committee or Government motion, in which case two days notice shall be sufficient.
(5) Notice shall not be dispensed with in the case of a motion except with the consent of Mr. Speaker and the assent of the majority of the Members present at the time.
(6) If a member desires to vary the terms of a motion standing in his name, he may do so by giving an amended notice of motion, provided that such amendment does not, in the opinion of Mr. Speaker, materially alter any principal embodied in the original motion or the scope thereof. Such amended notice of motion shall run from the time at which the original notice of motion was given.
26. Privilege motions
27. Amendment to Motion
28. Seconding of Motions and amendments thereto
29. Motions and amendments not moved or seconded
30. Manner of debating Motions and amendments thereto
31. Withdrawal of Motions and Amendments thereto
32. Time and Manner of speaking and contents of Speeches
33. Interruptions
34. Raising of Point of Order
35. Behaviour of Members not speaking
36. Relevancy in Debate
37. Dilatory Motions
38. Time Limit of Speeches
39. Anticipation
40. Closure of Debate
41. Mr. Speaker to be heard in silence
42. Decision of Chair final
43. Order in the House or Committee
44. Decision of Questions
45. Collection of Voices
46. Division
47. Notice Regarding Bills
48. Introduction and First Reading
49. Appointment of Days for Stages of Bills
50. Second Reading
51. Committal of Bills
52. Functions of Committees on Bills
53. Procedure in Committee of the Whole House on a Bill
54. Procedure on reporting a Bill from Committee of the Whole House
55. Procedure in Select Committee on a Bill
56. Proceedings on a Bill reported from Select Committee to the Committee of the Whole House
57. Recommitted of Bill reported from Select Committee
58. Third Reading, Passage into Law, Presidential Assent and publication as an Act of Parliament
59. Withdrawal of Bills
60. Bills containing substantially the same Provisions
61. Bill affecting private Rights
62. Bill covered by Certificate of Urgency
63. Presentation, first Reading and Second Reading of Appropriation Bill
64. Committee of Supply
65. Allotment of time in Committee of Supply
66. Procedure in Committee of Supply
67. Amendments to Heads of Estimates in Committee of Supply
68. Third reading of Appropriation Bill
69. Supplementary Appropriation Bills
70. Sessional Select Committees.
71. SPECIAL SELECT COMMITTEES
72. Constitution of Select Committees
73. Procedure in Select Committees
74. DIVISION IN SELECT COMMITTEES
75. Premature Publication of Contents of Select Committee Reports
76. Report from Select Committees to the plenary
77. (Absence of Members) (Paragraph (e) of Subsection (1) of Section 77 of the Constitution)
78. Employment of Members in Professional Capacity
79. Strangers
80. Press
81. Amendment of Standing Orders
82. Suspension of Standing Orders
83. Cases of doubt and cases not expressly provided for by these Orders
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