Finance and Planning Minister Dr Philip Mpango made the withdrawal following the directive by Presiding Chairperson, Mr Andrew Chenge, few minutes after the august House had resumed its evening session.
At the heart of the matter, according to Mr Chenge, were a number of technical faults which led to the tabling of the motion contrary to the Standing Orders.
The former Attorney General and seasoned lawyer stressed however that the technical mix-up did not in any way violate the constitution of the land as claimed by some lawmakers from the opposition.
“The government should have brought before the House a sketch of the plan for legislators to put their contributions after which the final version is presented before them. I now advice the government to come up with the draft.
“It should as well be understood that the annual and five-year development plans are usually presented to MPs in a seminar and not full house session.
This is usually done in March before the budget framework,” he explained. Mr Chenge noted further that even if the assembly was to discuss the draft plan it should have done so as the House Planning Committee rather than Full House Session.
“On the other hand, we were required to suspend some Standing Orders to accommodate the time change since the plans are required to be debated during the October/November session,” he explained.
Earlier in the morning session, the government came under fire from opposition for presenting the frame work rather than the second five-year development plan for 2016/17 to 2020/21 as required by Standing Orders of the assembly and the Constitution of the land.
Mr Chenge was forced to prematurely adjourn the morning meeting at 12:23 for more consultations after a number of legislators from the opposition sought the guidance of the chair in regard to the matter.
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