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{
    "id": 1057054,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1057054/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 114,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the procedure that you have just referred to is actually set out. That is an amendment by parliamentary initiative. However, if it is by popular initiative, going through the First, Second and third Reading would undermine the process which is contemplated in Article 257, by popular initiative. If we go through First, Second and Third Reading, the Constitution will require that if what you are doing is a mirror of what is in Article 256 of the Constitution, it says, between the First Reading and the Second Reading, you must have 90 days publication period for public participation. However, this is a Bill which has come from the public through signatures. It has gone through public participation in the county assemblies and it will go under public participation. I admit, but I think to make it go through the First, Second, and the Third Reading, that is an issue we need to look at. This is because if that was the case, then the Constitution would have been very clear just as it is clear in Article 256. If you read Article 256 very carefully, it talks about those stages. Each stage should be dealt with distinctly, and not at the same sitting. In Article 257, it is quiet. The reason why it is quiet is because it is by popular initiative, and the Bill is not read for the First, Second, and Third Time, but it is approved or rejected. What happens during the Third Reading? The Third Reading contemplates some amendment, or going through the Bill clause by clause. I do not think in Article 257, that is what is contemplated. I just think that we need to do a little bit more thinking, so that we do not raise legal issues in this expedition. We may hurry, which is good because it must be done without delay, but the legal steps that are spelt out, we must explain why we want to follow the steps which are not set out in the Constitution."
}