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{
    "id": 1067779,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1067779/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mathare, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Anthony Oluoch",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13425,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Tom Oluoch",
        "slug": "anthony-tom-oluoch-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. The Hon. Member’s correction is accepted. The words intended were former President of the United States. The former President, allow me to rephrase, said that every so often there comes a time in the generation of a people when history wants to turn. He posed that question which then I pose to us today, as Parliament and as a nation: On which side of history do you want to be? Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I spoke of the more than 16 million people that are behind this handshake, I offer a right of reply on behalf of myself and these many people to a few misconceptions that have been peddled - one of them by Hon. Aden Duale, the Member for Garissa Township. Let us remind ourselves that there are people who opposed this Constitution. The very Constitution that was the reason why one person was the very first Majority Leader post 2010. The very same Constitution that was opposed by the people who then became the very first beneficiary of the Office of the Deputy President. I was very surprised and dutifully informed by Hon. Odhiambo-Mabona, who sat in the Committee that was looking at that Constitution then, that the reason we did not have 40 per cent to counties - a minimum was 40 per cent - was because the team led by the Deputy President refused and said that we must have a minimum of 15 per cent. So, when today we speak about bottom-up approach, what bottom-up approach when 15 per cent that was intended to be 40 per cent was by that very same Deputy President? It is important that we ask ourselves on which side of history we want to be when it turns. We know on which side of history the naysayers were. They refused to allow us to have 40 per cent. They want the Constitution to collapse so that they can go back and say: “We are the ones who have saved you with the bottom-up approach”. Having said that, I want to address one last misconception before I go to the merits. There are those who have said that there is no necessity to amend the Constitution to put in place some of the things that have been put here. Let me remind you what the Speaker explained here eloquently. When the people rise under Article 1 of the Constitution as read together with Article 257, there is nobody who can stand in their way whatever it is they want to do. Look at the Preamble to that Constitution. It says, “We, the people…” There is nothing that can stand in the way of “We, the people…”, when we want to amend the Constitution. If the people decide that they want to hold a referendum to make fishing a national sport, so be it. That is their wish. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to indicate two things. One of them is the question of the two-thirds gender rule. We had Duale 1, we had Duale II, now we have the opportunity and the hanging against us, the direction of the former Chief Justice to dissolve this Parliament. There is the question of inclusivity. Inclusivity should be looked at in different ways. Inclusivity of the youth, inclusivity of tribes, inclusivity of women, inclusivity of minorities and everybody will sit at the table to ensure that Kenya becomes the country that we wanted it to be. So, I lend my support."
}