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{
    "id": 1211768,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211768/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tinderet, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Melly",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "decided that we could have the Constitution as it were then and then do amendments in future. There have been attempts that this Constitution be amended severally through the infamous BBI, a number of citizens’ initiatives and even through individual initiatives by members of public like the Punguza Mzigo Initiative. The President’s Memorandum is quite insightful and important. It is for this House to look into it without a political bias. It is worth noting that the issues that the President has brought forward affect all of us. Let me just go through them in brief. One of it is actually the issue that concerns everyone. The issue of the NG-CDF. Every Member in this House knows that the NG-CDF is dear to them, the citizens and every constituent in this country because its impact is more felt than even the devolved county government functions. The NG-CDF has done immense work in construction of schools, clinics, dispensaries, provision of water, building of police stations and security prior to the 2010 Constitution. Parliament should entrench it so that it is not under attack from civil societies, busy bodies and those individuals who would want to bring it to an end. Members who served here before the NG-CDF was introduced in 2002 by the third Government of Kenya under President Mwai Kibaki, know the difference which was there before and after. In the 1970s and 1980s, our schools were built through harambees where chiefs, assistant chiefs and administrators took cows by force from citizens to construct classrooms. However, with the advent of NG-CDF, we have seen hundreds and thousands of students who have had scholarships and bursaries and who would otherwise have not gone to school. I think it is in the wisdom of the President that we entrench the NG-CDF in the Constitution so that it can live beyond the lives of these Members. It can even take 100 years to come. It is the wisdom of the President that we entrench the NG-CDF in the Constitution, so that it lives beyond the lives of the Members and even take 100 years to come. I urge the Members to adopt this Memorandum on that basis. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we also know that the implementation of the gender rule has been a thorn in the flesh of this House. In the wisdom of our former Chief Justice, Mr. Maraga, he asked the former fourth President to dissolve the House because it was unconstitutional. The former Leader of Majority Party, Hon. Aden Duale, attempted several times to bring the issue of the gender rule, but it failed. By proposing to this House that it sits down through its wisdom, mechanisms and institutions to ensure that we entrench the two-thirds gender rule does not mean that it is only women. This time, it is women who are not able to meet the rule. Noting the development of the girl-child in the society, I know very well that in the next 10, 15 or 20 years, the gender which will be disadvantaged in this House will be male. So, it is important that we entrench this knowing very well that it will reach a time when the shoe will be on the other side. I have seen it in Rwanda where the majority of the Members of Parliament are now women. We really need to pass this Memorandum noting that women who come here are our daughters, mothers and sisters who are part and parcel of the society and we do not need to look at it in any other form. We also have the issue of the position of the leader of opposition. In the 2010 Constitution, whereas the presidential candidates are not allowed to vie for parliamentary seats, it has come to the realisation of all of us that party leaders lead their members from outside this House. They also lead members from unofficial quarters. It is important that every opposition leader has his office and is able to rally troops from official quarters where everyone knows, both in Government and outside the country, that it is a government-in-waiting. We need not allow them to just be running their offices from the streets and pre-occupying themselves in areas which would otherwise be catered for by the Constitution. Every Member who is here knows that it is possible for any side to be in the Government or opposition in future. The President is not advising for the formation of this particular office but for posterity. It is not for individuals or a certain group, but for Kenyans. The Government of today is possible to be in 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."
}