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{
"id": 1425328,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1425328/?format=api",
"text_counter": 265,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Orwoba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to stand and weigh in on this Bill. I want to take this time to also inform the public of what it takes to have a Bill get to First Reading. Sometimes as legislators when we are out there advocating and trying to sensitize the public on the work that we do here, the public thinks you are lying when you say that getting a Bill to First Reading can cost an arm and a leg. As we discuss this Bill, you realize that it further hinders or highlights the hindrances we deal with when legislating amendments that can impact the public in terms of changing their lives. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I pride myself on being an amateur politician. In this sense, I get to learn a lot of things. I get to learn from those who carry themselves as veteran politicians, the electorate and the staff of Parliament. I am proud to say that I do not know much about Standing Orders. Every day for me is a lesson. With the six Bills I have tabled in the 21 months we have been here, I have learned. First, I have learned that in the Senate, you can have a Bill that touches on devolution, you are passionate about it, draft it, and work with the legal clerks who help you. You get the first draft, go through the Committee stage, publishing, public participation, First Reading and Second Reading, and get to a point where your fellow Senators might want to punish you because they do not like you, so they want to drop your Bill. You get past this, only to find out that after all this and the Bill passes in the Senate, the National Assembly will quash it. I would like to give you statistics of what it looks like right now. Sometimes, when we speak, I like to use data. In the 13th Parliament, the Senate has had 94 Bills that have been published. Out of the 94 Bills, the Senate Bills that are undergoing concurrence are 22. From the 22, you will find the Senate Bills passed and referred to the National Assembly, but have not been concluded are 18. If you go through the statistics and compare the Bills, the Senate is passing with the ones the National Assembly is passing and bringing to our House for concurrence, you will see that, as a House, we are friendly towards the National Assembly. This is from the data put out on the number of Bills the Senate has concurred with the National Assembly and gone ahead to pass. Nonetheless, one of the things we do not highlight enough is that there are Bills that originate from the National Assembly and come to the Senate. The Senate does not give concurrence because certain issues need to be discussed as they touch on devolution, and others have to be dealt with by the Senate. Those Bills are passed in the National Assembly and concluded. To anyone shocked out there, even without the Senate concurring and agreeing to those Bills, they are passed. The National Assembly quickly takes those Bills to the President to assent them into law. An example is The Land Laws (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.65 of 2023) sponsored by the National Assembly Majority Leader. This Bill did not get"
}