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{
    "id": 103488,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/103488/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Vice-President himself has spoken about their position with regard to reforms in our country. He has said clearly that ultimately, this is the responsibility of Kenyans. They do not want to say that Kenyans should vote “yes” or “no” in the review process. I want to go straight to the second question which was asked by Mr. Imanyara with regard to an agreement which was signed between the Government and KUPPET. I want to say without hesitation that I understand that the Attorney-General’s legal advice was not sought before this agreement was signed. I have asked the Attorney-General to look at the agreement and give his legal opinion. In the meantime, I have directed that the agreement be set aside until such time that the Attorney-General will have given proper legal advice to the Government. I would like to assure Mr. Mungatana that, yes, we have made adequate arrangements. Hon. Members will recall this current year’s Budget did not provide funding for the review process. The review process was not included in the Budget of 2009/2010. Assumptions had been made that the arrangements that were required to be made would last much longer and that we would not move to the referendum stage before the Budget. We have had to somehow get Kshs7 billion by making some savings or shelving some projects within the budget in order to be able to fund the review process this far. As things stand right now, there is sufficient money up to tomorrow. What will not have been provided for up to tomorrow will be provided for in the Budget which will be read before this House tomorrow. I want therefore, to give a firm assurance to the House that there will be sufficient money to the Interim Independent Electoral Commission to conduct the referendum on 4th of August. The Member for Budalang’i wanted to know whether this is a Government project. I would like to take the hon. Member down memory lane. In 2008, we did sign the Accord which gave birth to the formation of a Grand Coalition Government. Thereafter, we had a team that was negotiating at the Serena Hotel which came up with the Serena Agreement. This agreement identified what has come to be known as Agenda Four. The constitutional review process is part of Agenda Four. It is the most important reform agenda by this Government. This Government, therefore, committed itself to ensuring that the people of this country get a new Constitution within its life. Because of that, several commissions were set up, funded by the Government. One of them is the Committee of Experts (CoE) which was tasked with the responsibility of looking at all the past draft constitutions and the current one and then coming up with a Revised Draft Constitution. The CoE was fully funded by the Exchequer. The CoE produced a draft which was then handed over to Parliament. The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) took over that document and went to Naivasha where they stayed for a number of days, funded from the public coffers trying to get a kind of consensus. The draft Constitution was taken back to the CoE from where it came to this House. Hon. Members will remember that they took leave to go to Kenya Institute of Administration (KIA) to try and develop consensus among themselves. Again, that exercise was funded by the public funds. After that, the draft document came to this House. So, hon. Members made some proposals for amendment. However, most of them, did not see the light of day. However, on 1st April, 2010, we were all here when we deliberated extensively until the wee hours of the night. Eventually, Mr. Speaker, Sir,"
}