EXTENSIVE TRAINING AS NEW FACES DOMINATE PARLIAMENT

MBABANE – It’s definitely a new look Parliament.  Statistics show that a total of 46 Members of Parliament for 2018 are new faces. This is a percentage of 83.6 per cent when compared to the 2013 or the 10th Parliament.
Of the 55 elected MPs who formed part of the last Parliament, only nine of them managed to return.

However, it should be noted that not all the non-returnees crashed out of the race, but some elected not to join the 2018 elections race. These include former Cabinet ministers Christopher Gamedze who was minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs and Dumsani Ndlangamandla who was Information, Communication and Technology minister.

This in essence means that there will be a lot of training involved for the legislators. The training includes the MPs having to familiarise themselves with the Parliamentary  Standing Orders, which are basically a guideline of how the members should work in the House and how they should conduct themselves.
However, not all is lost because some of the ‘newcomers’ were previous MPs during the Ninth Parliament and they managed to kick out their competitors. These include Manzini South MP elect Thandi Nxumalo, who was able to beat former Minister of Public Service Owen Nxumalo.

returnees

Other returnees are Ngudzeni MP Big Boy Mamba, who also crashed out of the 2013 elections and lost to Ndlangamandla.
Another candidate who returned was Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini, whose defeat to little-known former MP Jeremiah Ndwandwe sent shock waves in the country.
The 46 new faces together with the returning nine former MPs, according to the Constitution, are expected to, at their first sitting and before they despatch of any other business, elect a person from within the House to be the Speaker in accordance with the Standing Orders.
Meanwhile, Section 103 (1) of the Constitution further provides that when the House first meets after any general election, it shall elect from among the members of the House, a person to be the deputy speaker. 
Meanwhile, four new MPs have been elected under the four new Tinkhundla centres which are Siphocosini, Nkomiyahlaba, Gilgal and Kumethula.   

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