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{
    "id": 1061970,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1061970/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 482,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I beg to second the amendment to the Motion. Madam Deputy Speaker, there is a very important point that Sen. (Dr.) Ochillo- Ayacko is making that, perhaps, we may lose as a Senate. The reason why the Constitution of 2010 was amended and to take out powers from anybody else even the Speaker or the Executive in determining the calendar of the House, including the procedures of this House, was because there is a history where the Executive used to manipulate Parliament in the old days. This amendment is very important. It may look so superfluous. It may even look like it is so obvious. This is because nobody had opposed online meetings. However, it is important that it is known and it is in public domain that the calendar of this House, including whether Members will meet virtually or not, is determined by the Members themselves, so that this is not left to the determination of the Chair of a Committee or the Speaker of the House or any other powers. Therefore, it may look like--- I really appreciate the thinking of Sen. (Dr.) Ochillo-Ayacko, who is a senior lawyer and one of my brightest students. Initially, when I looked at this amendment, I thought this man is adding unnecessary amendments to this Motion to derail the debate in this House. However, the uptake of this amendment is to make it abundantly clear that it is only Members of this House, through resolutions of this House that can determine how committees meet, the period of time it takes for committees to meet, the manner in which the committees will meet and whether or not we can adjourn the proceedings of this House at any given time. I therefore, want to persuade my colleagues that we adopt this amendment as an addition to the main Motion. I know we are going to make contributions to the main Motion. I may not get similar time that I have in seconding this Motion to say this, that, I was of the opinion that we should not adjourn even for a day, and that, we must meet every week. However, I was persuaded when I realized that the calendar already indicates that we are going on recess on 16th of April, 2021. Meaning that, we are only forfaiting two sittings of next week and the week after. Thereafter, we go on recess that was already planned, come back on 11th of May, 2021, and follow our calendar as it is. It is because of that reason that I was persuaded that we can take two weeks break, the committees continue meeting virtually as suggested by Sen. (Dr.) Ochillo- Ayacko as many times as dictated by the Standing Orders, so that we can continue with the business of this House."
}