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{
    "id": 126965,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/126965/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 317,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 158,
        "legal_name": "Ekwee David Ethuro",
        "slug": "ekwee-ethuro"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in moving this Bill, I want to first and foremost, thank the Members before me who have made serious attempts to bring Motions of this nature to this House; Motions that never saw the light of the day and never translated into a Bill as we are witnessing today. I have in mind the hon. J.B. Muturi who brought this Motion to the House in the last Parliament. I also want hon. Members to appreciate that we are standing here in order to correct that anomaly that this House failed to address by not performing its duty. Section 16 of the Constitution where this Bill is drawn from provides that there shall be such offices of the Government as may be established by Parliament or, subject to any provisions made by Parliament, by the President. The Constitution has qualified, not just once, but twice, that the offices of Ministers shall be established by the President subject to provisions made by Parliament. However, the Parliament did not do its job. We are here because we want Kenyans to know that the Tenth Parliament is prepared and ready to do its job. This is one of our jobs and we will do it to the best our ability and understanding. In bringing this Bill, I had in mind the constitutional obligation that I have just read. The second objective which is even worrying is that if Parliament allows the Executive to continue poaching from the Legislature, you really run the real risk that a House of 222 Members can be composed of 120 Members on the Government side. It will be a travesty of justice and democracy to have such a scenario. We would have returned to a one party State and dictatorship if we do not put the numbers properly. This is actually the mischief that we want to address because there is real danger. Whenever there are problems in the country, the tendency of the Government is to expand the Cabinet so that they poach Members from the Back Bench."
}