Hon Deputy Speaker, as we stated here when we did the Second Reading debate, last year, at a fundamental policy level, the EFF is in agreement with the amendments proposed by the National Health Laboratory Service Amendment Bill.
The administration of the National Health Laboratory Service, NHLS, has been in a shambles for a while. This is due to poor leadership and also to an unclear legislative framework, through which the service ought to be governed. This Bill, if applied properly, will eliminate these legislative inconsistencies and bring the laboratory service in line with the rest of the Public Service, in terms of governance framework.
The insistence that the board must become the accounting authority of the service, with clearly defined functions, will eliminate most of the maladministration that this service has been embroiled in for the past few years. We may have the best available legislative mechanism to prevent corruption and maladministration, but if we have inherently incompetent people in positions of authority,