Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1211536,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211536/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 246,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyando, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jared Okelo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "also included a memorandum and suggested areas where changes should be made. I am very afraid that if it goes before a court of law – and indeed it will through the civil society - this thing will be dead on arrival just because President Ruto has put his hand in the proposed changes to our Constitution. We also need to see the amendments for what they are. There has been a proposal to bring back Cabinet Secretaries in this House. What does that, therefore, mean? That the work of oversight committees will die. What will be the role of Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) and Parliamentary Investments Committee (PIC) if the Cabinet Secretaries can personally present themselves before this House? This is an elaborate process of killing the role of the Opposition. You understand when you talk about the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), PIC and all oversight committees, only the Opposition can occupy and dominate those committees. By killing those oversight committees, you inevitably kill the Opposition. So, on one hand, we are being conned to get into a trap by allowing Cabinet Secretaries to come here, killing the oversight roles while, on the other hand, we are being told we also need the role of the Leader of the Official Opposition in this House. I think we are smart and can avoid being brought in this conundrum. This is something that will go before the Republic and Kenyans will have to voice their concerns on this matter. I do not know how prepared Kenyans are to increase the number of the female gender in this House by 100. How will this feed into the national budget at a time when the country is suffering? Yet, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury came out to say the country is broke. At the same time, we are also saying we bring in 100 more women into the National Assembly. Hon. Temporary Speaker, in order to cure this because it is important that this House is balanced, why not compel political parties during their nomination processes to have an equal number of women and men inside this House? So, at the end of the day, we do not lump up additional budget in the House but only cure the number of women brought by way of political parties. This way, we will adhere to the law and side-step the idea of pumping in an additional Ksh10 billion in the budget of the National Assembly or the Senate. Hon. Temporary Speaker, with that, I thank you for giving me the opportunity."
}