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{
    "id": 1069245,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1069245/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 463,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Lusaka",
    "speaker_title": "The Speaker",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "amendments can be proposed and admitted by the Speaker for consideration by the Senate at the Committee of the Whole. The second issue on which I was requested to rule was whether errors of form in the Bill could be corrected, and if so, the stage at which this could be done. Hon. Senators, I am of the view, having considered all circumstances, that these two questions, while they are novel in so far as the consideration of a Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill by popular initiative is unprecedented in the Senate, they are not so complex as to require the kind of detailed or lengthy ruling that I was invited to pronounce. Hon. Senators, as you are further aware, the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was prepared and processed pursuant to Article 257 of the Constitution as a Bill to amend the Constitution by way of popular initiative. With regard to the consideration of the Bill by Parliament, Article 257 (7), (8), (9) and (10) of the Constitution provides as follows – “(7) If a draft Bill has been approved by a majority of the county assemblies, it shall be introduced in Parliament without delay. (8) A Bill under this Article is passed by Parliament if supported by a majority of the Members of each House. (9) If Parliament passes the Bill, it shall be submitted to the President for assent in accordance with Article 256(4) and (5). (10) If either House of Parliament fails to pass the Bill, or the Bill relates to a matter specified in Article 255(1), the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the people in a referendum.” From the foregoing, the questions raised by the hon. Senators emanate from the fact that Article 257 of the Constitution, which is the only Article of the Constitution governing the amendment of the Constitution by a popular initiative, does not expressly pronounce itself on whether Parliament, in considering the Bill, may or may not amend it. This position is markedly different from the position articulated by the former Constitution of Kenya, which was in force immediately preceding the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. The former Constitution provided at Article 47(4) as follows- “When a Bill for an Act of Parliament to alter this Constitution has been introduced in the National Assembly, no alterations shall be made in it before it is presented to the President for his assent, except alterations which are certified by the Speaker to be necessary because of the time that has elapsed, since the Bill was first introduced into the Assembly.” No corresponding provision was imported into the Constitution of Kenya (2010) in respect of constitutional amendments by popular initiative, and for that matter, even in respect of amendments by parliamentary initiative. Hon. Senators, it is noteworthy that when considering this question, the joint sittings of the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, and the Senate Standing Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights found"
}