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{
    "id": 1211784,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211784/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 203,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Rarieda, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Otiende Amollo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Wanyonyi, I am telling you now. I am helping you understand the law, so just listen. That idea is precipitated on misinformation and misunderstanding that those who are in the majority are here on behalf of the Executive and those in the minority are here on behalf of the opposition. That is not so. In fact, the whole idea of the presidential system is that we, as a Parliament, check on the Executive collectively. The moment you start trying to bring in the leader of official opposition, you run into many problems. The first problem is that you can have a Parliament where the majority party has not produced the President. Can you imagine a situation where if we had maintained what we believe is ours, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance is the majority in this House and Kenya Kwanza is the minority? Can you imagine a situation where the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance would have the presidency and then you get another person who is in the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance to come be the leader of Kenya Kwanza in Parliament? Is that not ridiculous? It is based on the assumption that whoever has the majority membership in Parliament will always produce the President. It is not so. Secondly, there are the positions of the Leader of the Majority Party and the Leader of the Minority Party. So, I suppose you then remove the position of the Leader of the Minority Party and replace it with the leader of the official opposition. What will you do with the Leader of the Majority Party? Do you still call him or her the Leader of the Majority Party? You will call them the Leader of Government Business yet there is no Government in Parliament. What if the person who is the runners-up is an independent candidate? The Constitution allows for that. So, you run as an independent, you get the second-highest votes and then come to Parliament to head a party which you are not part of. It is ridiculous, ladies and gentlemen. Let us rethink this thing seriously. The issue of having a leader of official opposition because we want accommodation is one we must examine deeply and not artificially. If we want a parliamentary system, let us be honest and adopt that system. I will tell you that in the Committee of Experts, we had adopted a parliamentary system but it was changed by our then colleagues in Parliament. I will move very fast, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Just give me two minutes. 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."
}