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{
    "id": 1211515,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211515/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Beatrice Elachi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I also rise to speak on the Memorandum by the President. From the outset, as someone who started as a woman leader in this country by training women, let me state that the issues in the Memorandum are not new. They are things we have really talked about in this country until we even arrived at the level of passing the new Constitution in 2010. We thought that we will achieve the two-thirds gender rule and move on as a country. In the 11th Parliament, we had an opportunity to pass all the Bills that were to be enacted as a requirement by the Constitution. At that time, we were completely unable to even just touch on Articles 100, 81 and 27 which all speak about affirmative action and the two-thirds gender rule. We appreciate and thank the President for bringing the Memorandum. I just want to speak very candidly and say that the main matter has been sandwiched between too many issues. We will find ourselves, again, losing this proposal if we are not careful. We should look at it as a House and agree that some of these issues can move on since we have the ad hoc Committee that had started the process of integrating the NG-CDF in the Constitution. That is a good avenue to deal with issues of the NG-CDF so that we remain with the issue of the two- thirds gender rule in this proposal for it to work. When I look at the issue of the two-thirds gender rule that has been brought in with good intentions, those who advised the President could have read and realised that they had picked on Article 27 of the Constitution, which is within the bill of rights. That is why everyone is now talking about this referendum. It is in the bill of rights. Kenyans themselves said that you cannot implement anything that touch on the bill of rights without taking it to a referendum. Therefore, we might find ourselves being unable to do it until we go to a referendum. Article 27(8) is very clear. When you read it word by word, it states as follows: “In addition to the measures contemplated in Clause 6, the State shall take legislative and other measures to implement the principle that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.” The moment you bring in that Article, ask yourself how it will work when we nominate women yet we are supposed to push it through political parties so that it becomes elective. When canvasing for the real Bill, we would want to get clarity so that, as women, we do not start a journey and then find ourselves in a situation similar to the one Hon. Duale found himself in. When you look at the issue of the opposition office, I think we must agree that sometimes we have to have our own minds in the House. We are legislators and where we feel things have not gone right, we do not need to say that they are right. Ours is a presidential system and it is Kenyans who agreed upon it. Let them know that the day they will go to another referendum, they will take us to a parliamentary system, but for now, let us tell Kenyans that whether they like their opposition leader or not, they cannot entrench it here because we are in a presidential system. We borrowed the American system, therefore, we have to live with it. There is no opposition leader in America. Trump is not there. They have the majority and the minority and we must accept that. It is about how the minority side works to ensure they put checks and balances to our Government. In my opinion, that is the best way and it will work effectively. If we try and adopt this, then everyone will be saying they need a Prime Minister which will mean that we formulate the position. We should sit down in a bipartisan way and agree that for the sake of Kenya to move on, we need a hybrid system that works for the country. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I then come to the issue of the Senate which I think, given the other processes that we have, the lawyers advised us accordingly. Let us not call it the Senate Oversight Fund, but instead call it Parliamentary Oversight Fund. That way, we will avoid questions and the sibling rivalry that we have always had with the Senate. We want to finalise this matter. Remember, it is not a Motion or a proposal. It is a message the President wants us to ventilate on in order to generate good ideas. I am hoping all that we are saying is The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}