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{
    "id": 1021553,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021553/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 129,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung'wah",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1835,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
        "slug": "anthony-kimani-ichungwah"
    },
    "content": "end of this Session, many of those Bills will lapse and so, I wanted to request whether it would be in order for the House Business Committee to reconsider either to have sittings on Tuesday mornings for Private Members’ Bills to allow at least maybe another five Bills to see the light of day before the end of this Session. An alternative, Hon. Speaker, is for the House Business Committee to create a provision where we can move a Motion that no Bill that was published and has gone through the First and Second Reading in this Session because of the COVID-19 pandemic will lapse at the end of the year. In addition, we all understand that COVID-19 has disrupted lives including our legislative Calendar. Second, on a different matter but still on a point of order, I rise in relation to Standing Order 22 and Article 132 of the Constitution in regard to the President's Address on Special Sittings. Standing Order 22(1) states as follows: \"The President shall address a Special Sitting of Parliament once every year and may address Parliament at any other time\". Hon. Speaker, you will appreciate that Article 132 of the Constitution that stipulates the functions of the President also obligates His Excellency the President - and the Constitution is explicit - to address a joint sitting of Parliament at least once every year. More so, it obligates the President to address the nation on matters that touch on implementation of the national values. Among those national values, one that is very dear to me is the issue that is in Article 10, I think (d), on sustainable development. Again, I appreciate that COVID-19 has in a big way not just been a whole pandemic, but has now metamorphosed into a humanitarian crisis of unmeasured proportions and an economic crisis that threatens sustainable economic development. I would therefore be very eager to listen and hear what my beloved President, President Uhuru Kenyatta, has, in terms of realigning his agenda and his national priorities for this nation in terms of ensuring that our sustainable development and the economic recovery of our economy is guaranteed. Therefore, we appreciate that the President may not have been able to come and address this House between March and now. He has been very good since 2013 and has, at least, in the First Session every year, come to address the House. We also appreciate the challenges that have been there. However, we must also be emphatic to say that there should be no excuse for those working for His Excellency the President not to arrange alternative ways through which the President can address the nation on the state of the nation especially in the realisation of our national values. Moreover, for me specifically, the question of economic recovery. As I said, I am very keen to hear how the President will realign our national priorities to refocusing on sustainable economic development that has been threatened by this pandemic. It would be a matter of interest to the nation and to us as leaders to hear how we shall realign our priorities to ensure that our economy recovers. I just read a few weeks ago from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics that an estimated 1.6 million Kenyans that were in informal employment have lost their jobs. Millions more have lost jobs in the small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) sector and other businesses that have collapsed because of this pandemic. Therefore, it will be imperative that the President addresses the nation on the state of the nation and our plans moving forward with this new normal. In addition, with this new normal, I am sure it is possible. We have attended Parliamentary Group Meetings at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) to the tune of almost 300 members of the Jubilee Coalition. Therefore, it is possible for us to have a mega tent at the parliamentary gardens or at the KICC or even at the auditorium at the KICC, of course, with your permission, Hon. Speaker. You can gazette a sitting outside the precincts of Parliament or even at 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."
}