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{
    "id": 1394755,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1394755/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 473,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "that it reads as – The Houses of Parliament Bicameral (Relations) Act or The Houses of Parliament (Relations) Act when accented to. It behooves Hon. Members to go through the Report by JLAC on the Bill to acquaint themselves with what the public said about the two Houses. Hon. Chepkonga has moved and stated that the two Houses have been involved in minute and mundane disputes. This should never be the case. We have become a laughing stock of the Executive and the Judiciary because we air our dirty linen in public. We must pass this vital Bill into law so that there are guiding principles when the two Houses are in conflict. It is crucial to acknowledge that there is ongoing litigation in court, and the outcome of the case will confirm whether both Houses of Parliament have passed the Bill into law. Members are advised to read the Report to understand the Bill better. Hon. Chepkonga has elaborately enunciated the difficulties and what the Bill entails, from Part I to V. We have proposed amendments to the Bill that align it with existing legislation to avoid any problems in interpretation. We have also proposed amendments to clauses 1, 3, and 5, which I will not go into detail about. Additionally, we have an amendment to Clause 11, which addresses what happens when the two Speakers cannot jointly resolve a question under Article 110 (3) of the Constitution. We propose to refer the Bill back to the sponsor for further consideration. Alternatively, the Speakers of the two Houses can jointly appoint a person or a body to make recommendations within 14 days to determine the way forward. The rationale is to prevent undue delays when there is a disagreement after a matter has been brought before the House. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we have also proposed Clause 13, and its amendment on what happens when a Bill comes from the Senate or one House to the other. There was a proposal that the Bill should be co-sponsored. We said it could not be co-sponsored because the two Members are from separate Houses and do not sit together. We have now used the terminology \"adoption.\" When a Bill is brought from one House to another, it will be adopted in the second House. There is a whole raft of these proposals in our proposed amendments. I urge Members to look at them. This is a very important Bill that we must pass so that we can start cleaning ourselves. We need to remove this egg on our faces where the other two arms of government laugh at us. They say we cannot solve our problems amicably. We have to go to the third arm of the government to try and have third parties sitting in to listen to our problems. With those remarks, I beg to second the Bill."
}