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{
    "id": 109016,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/109016/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1114,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
    "speaker_title": "The Prime Minister",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 195,
        "legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
        "slug": "raila-odinga"
    },
    "content": "million people. We may not always agree, but it is important for this country to end the journey of finding a new Constitution. Over the last 20 years, many African countries have revised the Constitutions that they inherited at Independence. So many new Constitutions have been drafted in this continent. For some countries, it has been after very painful experience. One such country is Rwanda which had a very bloody conflict resulting in the death of nearly one million people. Rwanda decided to write a new Constitution, but very drastically. By the time they were through, they not only ended up with a new Constitution, but also a new national anthem and national flag. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Kenya’s Constitution-making process is evolutionary and not revolutionary like the Rwanda one. That is why we have been going through it slowly. Rwanda started after we had started and finished more than ten years ahead of Kenya. The Constitution is important because it is like a contract between the people and their leaders. We are mortals. As human beings we fear the unknown. It is said that the human being is a conservative animal - it fears the unknown. It is like a cow which knows the route from home to the water place. As long as it remains on the beaten path it has no problem. However, if you want it to deviate from the beaten path then you will experience some resistance. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what we have been through here is natural and understandable. We have tried to introduce amendments here and we are only 222 Members of Parliament. However, we have not been able to muster the numbers. The highest we got at one time was 152 Members. Even those ones did not fully vote for that particular amendment. It, therefore, means that we have not been able to get 50 per cent on any of the proposed amendments. Even if we referred this document to the Committee of Experts, then bring the reference group and the Parliamentary Select Committee, we will still just be delaying the process of taking the matter to the people of Kenya to make a decision. I would like to conclude by quoting a very respected African elder Statesman, Nelson Mandela Madiba of South Africa. In his famous book, Long Road to Freedom, he says:- “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” With the adoption of this Constitution, this House will have climbed one great hill."
}