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{
    "id": 1060733,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1060733/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 321,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me an opportunity to contribute to the Law of Succession (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly No.75 of 2019). I must commend Hon. Kaluma for bringing this Bill, which is probably informed by his experience and history. That is why we need Members who have experience and interest. When the Bill was published and read the First Time in this House, I subjected it to public participation to the people of Funyula Constituency. I regret to inform the House that majority of them, whom I represent in this august House, have difficulties in accepting the contents of this Bill for the simple reason that it does not address the malady or shortcomings of the existing laws on inheritance, especially Section 29 of the Succession Act. Two issues are re-emerging. When you go to Clause 2, where he seeks to amend Section 3, it has a bit of challenges. First, it defines “spouse” as “husband”, “wife” or “wives” recognised under the Marriage Act. The Marriage Act (No.4 of 2014), in the interpretation section, makes reference to “cohabiting”, which is defined “an arrangement in which an unmarried couple lives together in a long-term relationship that resembles a marriage”. The question that people are asking is what happens to that kind of arrangement yet in this Bill “spouse” means “wife” or “wives” and “husband?” It falls short of expectation. Secondly, where I come from, a man is never considered great until there is drama on the date of his burial. If you go to the history of the community, at the time of burial, when they start giving out eulogies, they normally ask if there is anybody who wants to say anything. That is the time you will see women coming out from different corners with children who resemble the deceased. That burial will then go down in history as extremely wonderful and successful. So, the proposed amendments in this Bill do not address the core challenges experienced on the ground. An important question that again arises is the definition of dependents. Under Clause 3 of his amendment, he defines a dependent as: “A spouse and children of the diseased whether or not maintained by the deceased immediately prior to his - it actually should be to his or her death.” That is an amendment we have to make. Many of us know that men can perform biological acts of reproduction up to the very last time whichever age he is. How do you determine the number of children you have until after nine months after your burial? How do you determine? People are asking that question. I have died today. I did an act that resulted in pregnancy. How do you determine that these are my children until after nine months? Therefore, in any case, you can never know. A man can never tell the number of children he has because we do not know. A man is just like when you go to plant, when you pick your seeds and scatter them, you do not know where they will grow. You do not know which ones will grow and which ones will not grow. Therefore, we request that at the Committee of the Whole House we need…"
}