Thursday, 27th January, 2022 Special Sitting

Sen. Faki, do you have an intervention?

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. This is a Special Sitting and we have a lot of business. I can see about five or seven Bills which are lined up for Division. At the moment, in the Chamber we have five Members who I do not think form a quorum to transact the business that is ahead of us.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I kindly ask that you ring the Bell so that Members can come in. In the event that they do not, maybe we should be informed whether there are Members online so that we can constitute a quorum to transact this business.

Sen.Khaniri, proceed.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. On the same breath, I am looking at the provisions of Standing Order No.30, which provides for a Special Sitting like this one. In particular, I am looking at Standing Order No.30 (5) which clearly states:

“Whenever the Senate meets for a special meeting under Paragraph (1) , the Speaker shall specify the business to be transacted on the day or days appointed and the business so specified shall be the only business before the Senate during the special sitting, following which the Senate shall stand adjourned until the day appointed in the Senate Calendar.” Madam Deputy Speaker, we saw the Gazette Notice and the business was clearly specified. I did not see any Statements or Notices of Motion. The business was very clear on what we were coming to transact within the three days of Sitting. I would like to get

your guidance. I can see the Clerk-at-the-Table asking if there are any Statements. Was that part of the business that we were supposed to transact today?

Maybe, going forward, do we still have to read through these Motions, Papers and Statements, whenever we have a Special Sitting and the business that we are supposed to transact is specified?

Thank you, Senators. Let me start with Sen. Khaniri’s concern. You rightfully stated that on a Special Sitting, we specify what we are supposed to come and do.

If you listened, as he was mentioning, I kept saying “Next Order” because these Orders are just procedural. Otherwise, we do not touch anything on Order No.1 to No.7. Therefore, you are correct that those ones do not actually appear. Whether they are on the Order Paper on not, we do not deal with anything except what was specified.

What was specified as raised by Sen. Faki is Order Nos.8, 9, 10 and 11. He has requested that we ascertain whether we have quorum. I would like the Clerks-at-the- Table to ascertain that because in a mixed system, we have people online and some in the Chamber.

Clerk-at-the-Table, please, ascertain whether we have enough Members online and in the House?

Hon. Senators, this has been done. We have five Members in the Chamber and four online. So, ring the Bell for five minutes.

Hon. Senators, after ringing the Quorum Bell, it is again very clear that we only have six Members in the Chamber and five Members online.

Hon. Senators, there being no quorum, the Senate stands adjourned until today, Thursday 27th January, 2022, at 2.30