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{
    "id": 111890,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/111890/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the second fundamental I want to remind hon. Members is that Constitution-making anywhere in the world has never and must never be undertaken in a vacuum. It must be anchored on certain fundamentals and irreducible minimums. These are the guiding principles. The process that we are blessed to have taken part of in terms of moving forward to this stage has certain fundamentals and foundations upon which it is built. Neither this House nor any other organ of review can ignore these fundamentals. There is the history of this process that the Chairman of the PSC has so eloquently elucidated. There are also objects of review that are well spelt out in Section 4 of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act. There are also guiding principles of review well set out and enacted by this House in Section 6 of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act. The CoE, another organ of review that this House mandated to be a custodian of this collective national wisdom, history and reservoir of information that we have gathered over the years has consistently reminded us of these pillars of review. In its report to the PSC, the CoE, in reference to the objectives of review reminds us as follows:- “Section 4 of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act establishes certain criteria which the Constitution must fulfill. These criteria include guaranteeing peace, national unity and integrity of the Republic of Kenya. This is to be achieved by establishing a free and democratic system of government that guarantees good governance, constitutionalism, the rule of law, human rights, gender equity, gender equality and affirmative action. Furthermore, the new Constitution must contain therein provisions recognising and demarcating divisions of responsibility among the various State organs including the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary so as to create checks and balances between them and to ensure accountability of the Government and its officers to the people of Kenya.” The CoE goes on to make wide ranging reference to the guiding principles that must guide this process all along. These principles include ensuring that national interest prevails over regional or sectoral interests. Furthermore, organs of review must be accountable to the people of Kenya and ensure that the review process accommodates the diversity of the people of Kenya, including the socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, gender, religious faith, occupation, learning, persons with disabilities and the disadvantaged. Those are irreducible minimums. They are the fundamentals such that as we debate this process and make proposals even for amendments, let us not make them with the imagination that this is a process to be conducted in a vacuum. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are not the only country and we will not be reinventing any wheel by abiding by these principles. When 55 delegates met in Philadelphia between 25th May, 1787 and 17th September, 1787, 232 years ago to enact the Constitution of the USA, they had guiding principles broadly enacted in the Articles of Confederation. When the people of South Africa made their Constitution between 1994 and 1996 through the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) process and the Multi-party Negotiating Forum, they had 34 irreducible guiding principles of Constitution-making. Mr. Speaker, Sir, let me remind this House that in South Africa, where Parliament tried to convert itself into a Constituent Assembly for purposes of debating the Constitution of that country, that Constituent Assembly went on to imagine that it could"
}