The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, I draw your attention to Standing Order 33(1) on “Questions,” which states: “A Member may ask not more than two supplementary questions.” Therefore, asking preliminaries before starting the supplementaries is not in the Standing Orders.

¶ 02 The second paragraph says: “Such supplementary questions shall not raise matters not included in the original question...” meaning, if onions were asked about, you can’t ask about rice.

¶ 03 “…and shall be put only for the purpose of further elucidating any matter of fact arising out of the answer.” I will read again: “Such supplementary questions shall not raise matters not included in the original question and shall be put only for the purpose of further elucidating any matter of fact arising out of the answer.”

¶ 04 Further: “If in the opinion of the Speaker any supplementary question infringes the rules regarding questions, the Speaker shall disallow the supplementary question.”

¶ 05 Standing Order 33(2) provides: “The time for the asking and answering of supplementary questions may be limited by the Speaker.” I draw these to your attention, Mr. Speaker.