There will be 7 members of parliament in each of the 6 parliamentary standing committees from now onwards.

Previously, there were only 5 MPs in each of these committees.

Speaker of the house, Dr Jiko Luveni says the business committee held a meeting yesterday to make a decision on the increased number.

These committees include Economic Affairs, Social Affairs, Justice, Law and Human Rights, Public Accounts, Foreign Affairs and Defence and Natural Resources.

The Standing Committee consists of small groups of both the government and opposition MPs.

Their functions are to examine each Bill referred to the committee by Parliament, and make amendments to the Bills, to the extent agreed by the Committee.

It also examines any subordinate legislation’s and scrutinizes the government departments.

Both sides of the house are expected to release the names of its members tomorrow.