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{
    "id": 128098,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/128098/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 482,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Medical Services",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, are they very commendable in expediting hearings before the courts? Are we not aware that petition cases which were filed after the elections are still pending before the courts and heading towards the next elections? So, our courts do not have a very good record in the public domain in handling issues like these. Outsourcing these problems to the courts is committing collective suicide. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is, indeed, a matter of public concern. The public is looking at Parliament and wondering whether, indeed, we are going to defend the Constitution under the Standing Orders and whether we are going to defend the laws that have been established in Parliament to guide its procedure. We have already said that this matter should be handled by the appropriate Parliamentary Committees and report to the House. This is a responsibility that the House must undertake. Then after that, if the House does not exercise its responsibility, both the courts and other organs of the State are in a position to exercise the principle of separation of powers to call Parliament to account. So, I think that we are being very responsible Parliamentarians in handling this matter. I do not think that a matter of pulling Members of Parliament to outsource their responsibility to the courts would succeed under these circumstances. I have one more point. I think that the time when people had to sing like parrots behind an Executive Order is long gone. Indeed, if we try to do that, we will be reviving ghosts of the past. We are in a Coalition Government under-pinned by a National Accord. It means that consultations and agreements among the Coalition partners are extremely important in making important decisions. Unless my brain fails me, I do not remember any Cabinet meeting which has discussed this matter, so that we can take a responsible"
}