Motlotlegi Modulasetilo, Motlotlegi Mmusakgotla le maloko a a tlotlegang... [Hon Chairperson, hon Speaker and hon members...] the Budget Vote on Parliament places a heavy burden on members, as they have to serve as referees and players at the same time. The enlarged executive has resulted in downscaling members of portfolio committees as more committees have had to be put in place. From the 17 members per portfolio committee 10 years ago, the numbers have been fiddled down to 15, and to 12 at present. This makes it very difficult for all parties to participate in matters that affect those departments and other committees and this is something that tends to defeat the idea of a multiparty Parliament as envisaged in the Constitution of our country.
Even with the situation as it stands, portfolio committees often find it difficult to have quorums for greater responsibility from members. All people have to be at their posts as and when required. What astounds us in the UCDP is that the Secretary to Parliament has, in the past four years, been suspended on two occasions. Surely, this will have a negative effect on the operations of the institution.
We have noted what the Speaker said. We hope the findings by the Auditor- General will be made known to all parties and not be kept as the preserve of the Parliamentary Oversight Authority, POA, where some parties only get snippets of what is going on by gleaning that from the media. The UCDP welcomes Prof Mohammed Jahed to establish the Budget Office, and thanks the leadership of the institution for having gone the way of requesting a seconded official in order to put the structure in place.
We hope that the 141 vacant posts as at September 2011, some of which were said at the time to be eyed for providing capacity to this office, among others, are gradually being filled. It is ironic that as Members of Parliament, we lament the bureaucratic manner in which departments and municipalities function, while our institution wallows in the same mode of operation.
It is unfortunate that members who join Parliament, as indicated earlier on by hon Killian, have to wait for almost six months to be provided with simple tools of trade such as laptops, yet we are all set to strive for a paperless society. We have to laud efforts mounted to make a mark on the international parliamentary stage by participating in bodies such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union and even visiting other parliaments across the globe to do benchmarking and observe best practices out there.
We have noted that among the strategic priorities set by Parliament itself is this one:
Parliament will expand its focus on increasing representation, openness and accountability by improving its oversight capacity to ensure sound governance and effective service delivery.
The UCDP will, however, support the Budget Vote. [Time expired.]