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{
    "id": 1017156,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1017156/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
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    "content": "However, Sub-Article (7) also says that His Excellency shall dissolve the House. That Article 7 and Sub-Article (7) is self-contradictory. In legal terms, when we have such contradictions in the law, then you look at what is more convenient. As Hon. Kimunya said, are you going to solve a problem by creating a bigger one? Have we addressed that issue? I find it strange that we have not considered that in the absence of this Parliament, and when I say Parliament, I mean the National Assembly and the Senate, in their absence, whether an election can be conducted in this country. Is the IEBC properly constituted to conduct an election? Do we have the finances for IEBC to do so? If we are going to do that, who is going to appropriate finances to IEBC in the absence of Parliament? The decision of the CJ cannot be implemented - it is wrong. However, and most importantly, Hon. Kimunya has explained the background of how we ended up with what we have in the Constitution. Every cloud has a silver lining. The silver lining on this cloud is that now the Members of this House have a chance to look at the various contradictions that we have in our Constitution and see how best we can resolve them. The only way to resolve these contradictions that we have in the Constitution is through the BBI process and not this advisory to the President. Look at Article 267 of the Constitution that gives the CJ the authority to give that advisory. Let us not forget that it is an advisory. It is not a decision and neither is it an order. Let us look at that Article in relation to Article 38(2) of the Constitution. Article 38(2) says as follows, and I know you are familiar with it. On political rights, Article 38(2) says that every citizen has got the right to free, fair and regular elections based on universal suffrage and free expression of the will of the electors. Clearly, this is one Article that contradicts Article 267 under the same Constitution. We have the chance now to look at these various contradictions and see how best to resolve them. Article 259 is on how we construe the various provisions of the Constitution. Has the CJ complied with that? Did he address his mind to Article 259 before he issued the advisory? If you are going to construe the Constitution, then these are the tenets on which that interpretation must be based. Article 259 is construing this Constitution. Article 259(1) says: “This Constitution shall be interpreted in a manner that: a. promotes its purposes, values and principles; The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}