Parliamentarians have voted in favour of the tabled Finance Bill, 2024 to proceed to the next stage, where the report will be presented to the committee of the whole house.
The Second Reading sailed through after 204 MPs voted Yes while 115 voted No.
There were no abstentions in the vote after National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula called for a division subjecting the process to a manual vote.
This is the stage where any proposed amendments to the bill are considered and a vote is taken on each.
The committee of the whole house then approves clauses with or without amendments and thereafter tables a report before the house for approval.
Once approved, the bill will move to the final stage which is the third reading.
If most of the parliamentarians vote in favour of the Bill, the Speaker of the National Assembly then sends it to the President for assent.
As dictated by law, the President has 14 days to assent to it or refer it back to the House with some reservations.
The vote on the Second Reading was conducted amid countrywide mass protests as anti-Finance Bill protestors continued to lobby for MPs to reject the Bill.
