In a communication to House Speaker Bhofal Chambers, Rep Dopoh said despite the expiry of the constitutional time frame of the declared state of emergency to meet legislative approval, the Executive through these officials are enforcing the illegal presidential proclamation. The Legislature shall within seventy-two hours, by joint resolution voted by two-thirds of the membership of each house, decide whether the proclamation of a state of emergency is justified or whether the measures taken thereunder are appropriate. If the two-thirds vote is not obtained, the emergency automatically shall be revoked. The President said the decision to extend the state of emergency by 30 days was intended to afford the government the opportunity to re-examine its COVID-19 response strategy. Recently, members of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) Legislative Caucus called for the revocation of the State of Emergency because it has passed the deadline set by the Constitution to be approved by the Legislature.

Source: Front Page Africa July 17, 2020 05:03 UTC