Parliament has been urged to seek help from the executive, experts and citizens to effectively monitor the implementation and impact of legislation after it has been signed into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Evaluating and assessing legislation after it has been passed is the only way to know whether “laws are good laws or not and whether they are effective,” said Dr Maria Mousmouti of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy during an oversight summit at parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is Parliament\u2019s role, as the body that has a constitutional mandate to legislate, to follow up what happens with legislation after enactment,” she said. “Post-legislation scrutiny can be a positive contribution to strengthening the role of Parliament in relation to legislation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mousmouti said that for some time, parliament had passed laws and then used the fact that they had been passed into law as evidence that the law was effective in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the expert told parliament that this needs to change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mousmouti suggested that post-legislative scrutiny should not fall solely on the shoulders of parliament but rather involve the executive, who are the implementers of the laws; experts, who know about the law; as well as citizens, who are the subjects of the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mogamad Paulsen, a Member of Parliament (MP), argued that the Marine Living Resources Act, passed in 1998, is an example of legislation that had not been properly reviewed after its enactment. The act was challenged in court on the grounds that it disadvantaged small-scale fishermen and subsistence fishing communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The MP said that if post-legislation scrutiny had occurred, the problems with the Act could have been identified earlier and addressed through an amendment to the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt should be empirical, anecdotal. We should engage our constituencies as to how the laws that we make have impacted on their lives, because they could have unintended consequences,\u201d said Paulson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in 2015 Speakers Forum established a High Level Panel (HLP) on the Assessment of Key Legislation and Acceleration of Fundamental Change, with reports on key findings and recommendations presented to the National Assembly on an annual basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n