Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1211801,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211801/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kwanza, FORD-Kenya",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "clear because people have misunderstood the Memorandum. He just sent a Memorandum and he is requesting if we can make the changes. It is constitutional. That must be clear. I am not a lawyer, but I am a student of English. I understand what it is as a ranking Member of the House. Before somebody comes to discuss what the President is doing, they need to think twice. I agree with most Members from the other side. I have been a Member of various committees and we have had such cases in the past. You can ask a question or raise an issue with a specific ministry, and the cabinet secretary shuts it off and sends a principal secretary or a chief administrative secretary (CAS) who comes but does not fully understand what Members of Parliament wanted from that ministry. Bring cabinet secretaries here. We have not said they will come to occupy the front row. They do not have to mix with us because they are not Members of Parliament. These seats are specifically for those who are elected or nominated to the House. So, when the cabinet secretaries come here, and we will all be here, I will be sitting there and of course, we will be making them accountable. Cabinet secretaries coming here does not mean they will take over the jobs of Members of Parliament, or go to the Senate for that reason. The President has simply directed that cabinet secretaries come here to fully explain issues or problems facing ministries like agriculture, water, or whatever it is. As we talk, the Ministry of Agriculture is again having problems because the department of irrigation is misplaced. It is now under the Departmental Committee on Blue Economy and Irrigation. What is irrigation? Irrigation is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops. If such a question is brought to the Floor of the House, the specific cabinet secretary will come and answer while sitting there, and not here. Let us get it right as Members of Parliament that the President is trying to make life easy for us by making cabinet secretaries answerable. There are many issues out there like insecurity. Look at my neighbours in the North Rift where people are dying all over the place because of insecurity. If you ask one or two fellows who may not necessarily come from the North Rift, but maybe Nyanza or the Coast, they would probably have good issues to raise. With cabinet secretaries coming here, it will help us a great deal to unravel such issues. Colleagues, this is the way to go. We have seen that before. I am sure the Member who was against this has since walked out, but when we had ministers here, I was still a new Member of Parliament, and he would come here and start sweating, but things should be done. By the time he would come back after consultation, he would be on record. We were not forcing him to accept what he had possibly done. When it came up, you would know the issue had been fully responded to, and you are satisfied with whatever presentation you had sought. Let us look at what the President has proposed practically, and see whether we will do what we are supposed to do. Secondly, the question of the President coming here is again something that we are overdoing. Let us accept that, that is what is supposed to be done. Gender is something that we have to look at. I do not want to beat my chest, but I have more girls in my family than boys, and out there, ladies are more. We are doing this for prosperity. We are not doing it for today. This gender issue coming up here… Last time, the Chief Justice almost threw us out. We almost went out because we have not implemented that. Let us implement that for prosperity and not for now. I am sure the next two terms or so you will be surprised that there would be more ladies here. I even had a serious problem in my constituency of defeating a lady because ladies are more than men. Most of the men were busy drinking and doing other things while the girls went to vote. If my records were not correct, I would not be in this Parliament talking to you. Therefore, let us look at that gender issue as it is today because you never know what will happen in ten years to come. This is an issue that we can do. If we are to do a memorandum - it is a very easy thing - it will just go through. Let us have that, but it is only fair that we deal with the issue of gender. 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."
}