Imo lawmaker kicks against amendment of Assembly Rules

Mr Frank Ugboma, representing Oguta constituency at the Imo House of Assembly, has expressed dissatisfaction with the amendment of some portions of the House Rules by the assembly.

Ugboma said in an interview in Owerri on Monday that the act was a “flagrant abuse of legislative process.”

It would be recalled that the Deputy Speaker, Mr Amarachi Iwuanyawu (APC Nwangele), moved a motion at the last sitting of the assembly, seeking to relax Order 11 and Rules 61, 62 and 63 of the house.

The section states that “any member who misbehaves will be suspended for that sitting, if the offence is not considered serious.

“But where the said offence is considered serious, the offender will be suspended for a period of two weeks.”

Ugboma, however, frowned at the amendment, saying it was an infraction of some sections of the 1999 Constitution that border on fair hearing.

He said that legislators should not be ambushed with such amendment, adding that members were entitled to make contributions on the floor of the house.

He further faulted the process of the amendment which, he said, was orally done on point of order.

He said that members ought to be served a formal notice by way of a motion, pointing out that such an amendment could only take place on point of order, if there was an emergency.

“A point of order is only raised when there is an emergency to that effect but there was no emergency warranting the ammendment.

“It was an orchestrated plan to shut some lawmakers up.

“This obnoxious amendment offends all sound logic and it is aimed at discouraging members from demanding their rights,” Ugboma said.

The amendment, which was supported and adopted by the house, seeks to either suspend or recall any lawmaker, at the discretion of the house members, for allegedly misbehaving.