The Senate performs the oversight of Government activities through the following methods:

1. Oral questions;

2. Written questions;

3. Hearing before committees;

4. Commissions of inquiry.

I. Oral questions

1. Oral questioning means that a Senator or a group of Senators requests via the Plenary Assembly, the Prime Minister or any other Cabinet member, depending on everyone’s responsibilities, to give oral explanations thereon, before the Plenary Sitting;

2. Any Senator or a group of Senators represented by its spokesperson wishing to ask oral questions to the Prime Minister  or any other member of Cabinet, informs the Bureau  of the Senate in writing;

3. The Bureau of the Senate submits the request to the Plenary Assembly, which decides on the relevance of questions to be asked and its wording as well;

4. When oral questions are adopted, the President of the Senate informs the Prime Minister in writing, with acknowledgement of receipt, stating that one or several members of the Cabinet are called upon to come and respond to oral questions in the plenary sitting devoted to questions and answers. The Senate has the obligation to notify the Prime Minister of the issue, at least 7 days before the sitting devoted to questions and answers is held. This period may be shortened due to the urgency of an item on the agenda. The sitting devoted to questions and answers is held once a week;

5. After the Prime Minister or any other member of Cabinet has given explanations, the Plenary assembly debates on the issue and renders a decision;

6. If the Plenary assembly is satisfied with explanations, the issue is concluded. Otherwise, the Plenary assembly determines one of the other procedures to follow - either written questions or Commissions of inquiry.

The President of the Senate informs the Prime Minister of the recommendations stemming from the oversight exercise.

II. Written questions

1. Written question is a request made by a Senator or a group of Senators to the Prime Minister or any other member of Cabinet, depending on everyone’s responsibilities, to give written responses to questions he or she received in writing;

2. Any Senator or a group of Senators, who wish to ask a written question, submits it to the President of the Senate. The latter submits in writing the question to the Prime Minister and invites him or her to respond to questions that concern him or her, or the whole Cabinet, or requesting him or her to invite a Minister or any other member of Cabinet whose portfolio relates to the questions. The letter must indicate the date and hour the invited person will give explanations and invites the concerned person to attend;

3. Within a period of 15 days from the day he or she received the letter, the concerned person sends a written reply to the President of the Senate and reserves a copy to the President of the Republic. After the letter has been sent, the concerned person is called upon to come and explain his or her responses in a sitting of the Plenary Assembly devoted to questions and answers. Upon approval by the Bureau of the Senate, the concerned member of Cabinet, upon request, may receive an extension of the period of 15 days to provide a response. However, such an extension may not exceed 15 days from the day he or she received the letter granting the period extension;

4. If the Plenary Assembly is satisfied with explanations, the issue is concluded;

5. If the response is not satisfactory to the Plenary Assembly, or if there is no answer to the written question that is communicated to the President of the Senate within the prescribed period, or if the person to answer has not attended with no sound reasons, the Plenary Assembly may decide that the Prime Minister or any other member of Cabinet be heard before  Committee;

The President of the Senate informs the Prime Minister of the recommendations stemmed from the oversight activity.

III. Committee Hearing

1. Hearings before a Committee is one of the methods of obtaining information or exercising oversight of Government activities, approved by the Senate Plenary Assembly, inviting the Prime Minister or any other member of Cabinet to  appear before a Committee so as to furnish ample explanations on a given matter.

2. The hearing may be conducted either before a Standing Committee. To this end, a person who initiated the issue under examination may attend.

3. The Senate may also choose to start with hearings before a Committee whenever it considers it to be the best method to obtain information or to oversee Government work. In this regard, hearings before a Committee is approved upon request of a fifth (1/5) of the Senate members and decided by the Plenary Assembly on the absolute majority vote of the members present.

4. When the hearing before a Committee is decided, the President of the Senate informs in writing the relevant Committee of the decisions taken by the Plenary Assembly. Besides, he or she addresses a written invitation to the Prime Minister to appear before the Committee for explanations if he or she is concerned or if it concerns the whole Cabinet or else, requesting him or her to commission a Minister  or any other member of  Cabinet to appear for questioning in the Committee hearing on the day and time specified in the invitation letter.

5. The President of the Senate informs the Prime Minister of the recommendations stemmed from the oversight activity.

6. Hearing before a Committee is conducted within eight days (8) from the day the Prime Minister receives the invitation letter.

7. Upon request, the Prime Minister or any other member of Cabinet may obtain the extension of this period.

8. The President of the Senate, in collaboration with the Committee concerned with that issue, examine the basis and reasons provided by the Prime Minister  or any other member of  Cabinet, and if they find that the request has grounds, they determine another deadline.

9. The extension of the period may not be granted more than once.

10. If the Committee hearing is concluded, its report is submitted by the Committee Chairperson to the President of the Senate who includes it on the order paper of the plenary sitting.

11. The report is considered by the Plenary Assembly that, if satisfied with the given responses, decides to conclude the issue, if the Plenary Assembly is not satisfied with the committee hearing, it proceeds with the Commission of Inquiry.

The President of the Senate informs the Prime Minister of the recommendations stemmed from the oversight exercise.

IV. Commission of inquiry

The Senate can set up a Committee of inquiry commissioned to shed light on issues or occurrences associated with the activities and functioning of the Government, about which the Senate needs furthered information;

1. The commission of inquiry may be established where prior means of oversight did not provide convincing information or if it considers it necessary as the first method of oversight of Government activities;.

2. The decision to set up the Commission of Inquiry as the first method is taken by the Plenary Assembly on the absolute majority vote of members present;

3. The Commission of Inquiry is temporary. It is dissolved after the decision on its report is taken by the Plenary Assembly;

4. If the Plenary Assembly decides to set up a Commission of Inquiry, it specifies Government agencies, public institutions concerned and those which are supposed to be controlled by that Commission as well as the period of submission of the report;

5. The Commission of Inquiry submits a report to the Bureau of the Senate within the period of time it has been allotted. If such a period expires before the completion of its mission, it informs the Bureau and it is the Plenary Assembly that may extend the period;

6. The President of the Senate submits the report to Senators and sets the day for the plenary sitting the agenda of which will include debate on the report of the Commission of Inquiry;

7. Debates are closed by a vote on a decision indicating the role in mistakes of the concerned Cabinet member or turning him or her to be innocent;

8. That decision is taken by an absolute majority vote of the members present at the plenary sitting;

9. The President of the Senate transmits the report of the Commission of Inquiry to the President of the Republic, with a copy to the Prime Minister or any other member of Cabinet concerned with the inquiry;

10. A Senator, a group of Senators or the Bureau of the Senate may report poor performance of the Commission, if any. A member of the Commission may also request to be replaced, as it may be requested by the Commission itself for a well-known reason. To this end, such an issue is included on the agenda of the Plenary Assembly, which may review the composition of the Commission, replace it, or replace the relevant member of the Commission.