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{
    "id": 1256832,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1256832/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1131,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, the cardinal responsibility of this House in Article 95 of the Constitution is to legislate. We must stop anything that impedes that in this House. The Members here have amendments to the Finance Bill. However, they have been told that under Article 114 of the Constitution, they must consult with the National Treasury. This is supposed to happen between the Committee and the National Treasury but not necessarily with the Members. This impedes Members from doing their legislative work. I remember in 2018 in this House and it is on record in the Hansard, I brought an amendment to the Finance Bill which was a Money Bill. We were amending a clause that was putting 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel which is the same thing we are doing today. At the beginning, I was told that it was supposed to be under Article 114 of the Constitution. The Speaker then was seated on the chair you are seated on today and he made a ruling in the afternoon. He said that the matter should be decided by the Members themselves through voting. In the end, we agreed to come up from zero to 8 per cent. The Executive came from 16 per cent to 8 per cent. That is why we have 8 per cent of VAT on fuel today. The Executive came for 16 per cent but we agreed on 8 per cent. That is why today, we have 8 per cent VAT on fuel. There was no memorandum, we agreed and the Speaker ruled he is exempting that amendment from Article 114 of the Constitution. Why? This is because Article 114 of the Constitution states, ‘in the opinion of the Speaker’. The Speaker has a serious opinion because he is the one who runs this House, is in-charge of legislation, approves amendments and looks at the constitutionality of matters brought. Hon. Speaker, do not lose what the Constitution has given you, when it states, ‘in the opinion of the Speaker’. It does not state in the opinion of the Cabinet Secretary or Principal Secretary of the National Treasury and Economic Planning. Hon. Speaker, in your opinion, if an amendment is of national interest or importance, I beseech you to allow it. The amendment will be voted and Members will make a decision one way or another. In conclusion, let me pick what Hon. Makali proposed in terms of deletion. I do not think voting against an amendment is the same as proposing an amendment for deletion. These are two different things and are not similar according to my understanding. Deletion means getting rid in totality; completely out of the Bill. No, means it can go either way and that is why we vote on the amendment for deletion. Deletion of clauses has been a tradition of this House. Previously, our Clerk was the Director of Legislative and Procedural Services. He has been approving deletions for the last 10 or 15 years I have been here. Delete this and that. So why is deletion an issue today? If you do not like it, vote against it like we are saying we vote against an amendment. Hon. Speaker, under Article 195, let us have freedom of debate and legislation. Let everybody bring any amendment they want; it be put to vote and whichever side carries, we agree and move forward. Let us not hide ourselves under Article 114 of the Constitution because it is so ambiguous. It is like the one the Executive uses to gag Parliament, when we 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."
}