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"id": 1017394,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherargei",
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"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I congratulate you. The advisory given to the President under Article 261 (5), (6), (7) and (8) is a threat to democracy and the social fabric of this country. Having worked closely with the Chief Justice when I was the Chairperson of the Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights, he would have borrowed a few things. The law does not exist in a vacuum. Under Article 261 (6) (b) of the Constitution, the order should have been transmitted to Parliament, which was never done. As you declare the Parliament unconstitutional, we need to ask ourselves whether there has been an audit to know whether the Judiciary meets the threshold of the Two- thirds Gender Rule, the Presidency and other organizations. The aim is to have a progressive achievement on this issue of gender. When I chaired the Committee on Justice Legal Affairs and Human Rights, we sat and tried to deliberate on the Bill brought before us. However, we realized that there are so many factors that I would wish women, people with disability and young people to realize. One is that there is need to create a level playing ground for fair competition in politics. The youth and people with disability need a pronouncement from the Supreme Court in terms of their representation. The affirmative aspect has been brought to life under Article 53 of the Constitution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, the Chief Justice misadvised himself on the issue of declaring Parliament unconstitutional. Secondly, when you look at Article 101, the Constitution envisaged that every second Tuesday of August in every fifth year, we should have a general election. It did not envisage a situation where there would be dissolution of Parliament after the President is given advice to dissolve Parliament, so that People can vote. Some of us are not worried about snap elections being called today or tomorrow; we are sure of coming back. However, where does it leave the country? We have issues of COVID-19, the economy is not doing well, there are over 16 million Kenyans in the informal sector, and others are unemployed. The majority of them are people with disability and women. I advise the women in this country that there will be no free things, just like there are no free lunches. There are no freebies. In our democracy, we should not create a bad culture where we tell someone that there is a free seat. This is discrimination contrary to Article 27 of the Constitution of Kenya. If women know that there are free seats, they will not compete. There are women like Hon. Phoebe Asiyo, Hon. Chelagat Mutai who is from my county and the current Deputy Speaker of the Senate. There are women who have fought hard with men. I have a Member of the County Assembly from Kilibwoni, namely, hon. Cynthia Muge. She floored over 20 men to win her seat. The women in this country, on the issue of gender, must know that there are no freebies. Finally, the Chief Justice, who will retire soon, came to the Committee on Justice Legal Affairs and Human Rights severally, and we stood with him when the Executive The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}