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{
    "id": 1097598,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1097598/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 77,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "enactment of the 2010 Constitution that cannot be taken away. Therefore, whatever the courts have said and whatever the rulings of the various judges, the power to legislate must remain with this House. That is my starting point. Secondly, following in line with what the Leader of the Majority party has said, if we can have a Constitution that the people cannot amend, in my view, that becomes constitutional slavery. I do not think the people of Kenya are ready to be put to slavery of whatever kind. Therefore, regardless of what the judges and the courts have said, the people of Kenya cannot accept slavery. That is also something that needs to come out very clearly. Hon. Speaker, you are right. I am not a lawyer, but I am an intelligent Kenyan. I am an educated Kenyan and I have taken my time to read and understand what the courts have been saying on this doctrine of basic structure. I am still at a loss. I really do not know whether they are referring to these protected clauses in the Constitution which the people of Kenya did not want Parliament to be the only sole body to make decisions on. This is why we have the popular initiative and the referendum. It is not just the popular initiative because if a legislative proposal is brought and passed by this House and it touches on those protected clauses, it would still go to the people of Kenya to decide. In my view, this was the best safeguards that the people of Kenya provided for themselves to ensure that the Constitution is not mutilated and interfered with to their detriment. Hon. Speaker, when you apply brakes even to the very people of Kenya to make a determination on the same clauses, then the question would be: Was it the intention of the people of Kenya to have a Constitution that cannot be amended by anybody?"
}