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Title: | The Latimer House guidelines on preserving the independence of parliamentarians: constitutional and legal guarantees in Lesotho |
Author: | Sakoane, Sakoane |
Year: | 2000 |
Periodical: | Lesotho Law Journal: A Journal of Law and Development |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 1-2 |
Pages: | 39-69 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Lesotho |
Subjects: | parliamentary systems parliamentarians freedom of speech |
Abstract: | The Latimer House guidelines, formulated at Latimer House in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, in 1998, include recommendations intended to secure the functional independence of members of parliament from their respective political parties. In Commonwealth Africa, a number of factors militate against parliamentarians' independence and may lead to a failure on the part of MPs to distinguish the interests of their parties from true constituency requirements and the broader national interest. These factors span a wide spectrum ranging from the distribution of legislative powers, control of freedom of speech and debates by the speakers of parliaments, to lack of legislative initiative and inhibitions of party loyalty. The author reviews the theory and practice in Lesotho with respect to parliamentarians' security of tenure, parliamentary vacancies and locus standi, freedom of speech and protection of speech in parliament. He concludes that, by and large, the necessary constitutional and legal framework to protect the independence of parliamentarians and cultivate parliamentary practices that will make the executive and general public administration accountable to parliament and the public is in place. However, there is a need for the effective operationalization of a system of re-call. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |