Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1404491,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404491/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 275,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "because anybody who is given discretion tends to abuse it. If you even look at earlier legislation in this House, we tend to tie hands. That is why sometimes I disagree with the courts. For instance, in the Sexual Offences Act, we included minimum sentences. The reason behind this was the expectation that a reasonable person, when presented with a case where a 60-year-old man has raped a three-year-old, would jail the offender for life. But there are people who then use the discretion to let that person go off on probation. That is why we said as Parliament that on certain issues, you need to guide even the commission that is doing that. It is not taking away their independence; it is basically empowering them with a tool so that they are not considered as misusing that discretion. Perhaps that is one of the things that you need to reconsider. Even if it means providing other standards that will guide them not to misuse or abuse. Unfortunately, I do not know why as human beings, God gives us the opportunity to learn and we do not learn. Sometimes Parliament is the most amazing. I am just about to release my book and I always tell people that the change of guard is one event away. In the last Parliament, you were here and we were the ones making faces at you. Now you are the one sitting there as the Deputy Majority Leader, yet while sitting there you forget that circumstances change. It is just one event away and sometimes that event is as sad as General Ogolla dying in a crash. The family's tears have hardly dried but somebody else has been sworn in and is already doing his work. So, in the same manner when you are making laws, make laws for your good times and your bad times. Make a law that will work for you in season and out of season. I understand there has been a lot of concern about the proposed amendments; there are fears that they will create… I do not want to call them historical because they are no longer historical; they are current injustices. Some people are seeking to punish others whom they deem to have taken land, claiming that it is now their turn to grab it, and attempting to extend the timeframe so that they can grab land. Grab it knowing that people will come for your own children. The same way I am saying you are sitting there, just a few months ago, you were not sitting there. Why can God not just give us a grace and mercy to learn that circumstances change? Learn to be fair and to play by the rules so that you do not put our children in a fix, but above all, so that we can also bring stability in this country. There are things that we have heard a lot and have become like broken telephones. It is like the way nowadays I hear people talking all the time about colonialism —that we cannot do certain things because we are colonised. By the time the colonialists left, I had not been born. So why am I blaming colonialists all my life? Yes, we were colonised, but what are we doing about it? Get up and change your lifestyles. We cannot blame people all our lives. I think as a country we should be tired of hearing the issue of historical land injustices. That is why we need a timeframe, sort out those issues and let us hear the concerns about the Gen Zs who are giving us, parents lectures. How do we deal with those ones? How do you deal with Artificial Intelligence? How do we deal with other issues that are emerging that are faster than us instead of dealing with things like the historical land injustices? There are things that I hear in this House… My left ear is blocked. I do not know if it is because of things like those. It has been blocked for the last three days; perhaps it is because we are not moving forward. We had just started so wonderfully when we came up with a constitution in 2010. We passed a plethora of laws that were forging the country forward and my worry is that we seem to be having a claw back. It reminds me of recently when we went for a Women's Forum in Rwanda and we met this Caucasian woman who is in her mid-30s. When she was introduced to Senator Catherine Mumma and I she burst out crying. We did not know what to do with her and then we asked her what her problem was and she said she was so frustrated. According to her, we make 10 steps forward and 15 steps backwards with regard to the women's agenda. I told her not to be worried. We may appear to be doing so, but there are small gains that we are 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"
}