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{
    "id": 1493632,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493632/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 69,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to seek your indulgence on a matter that… Hon. Temporary Speaker, when I saw a black man, I knew there was a change of the Chair. I want to bring to the attention of the House a matter that is very important. As you are aware, our main business is legislation. One of the biggest predicaments we have faced on issues of legislation is public participation. I want the House to take note of the Supreme Court ruling which happened the other day, on the Finance Bill, which had been suspended by the courts. The Bench at the Supreme Court did some thorough work. I want to congratulate them because they laid the basis and foundation for proper public participation. I want to urge Hon. Members to read that judgement because it has helped this country. It has cleared the path for Parliament to do proper legislation. For the last 10 years or so, since the new Constitution was enacted, Parliament could not do its business. For any legislation or Act of Parliament that was assented to by the President, somebody would go to the High Court which then would declare that Act unconstitutional. In actual sense, an Act can have 73 or 80 clauses but, instead of a judge declaring that 10 or 15 clauses have a problem, many a times, judges would declare Acts of Parliament unconstitutional. I read the judgement of the Supreme Court last night and it gave me a lot of hope. I must bring to the attention of Hon. Members that the country is going in the right direction in terms of legislation. One of the best things the Supreme Court said is that Parliament does not have to convince the public on what they are doing. They just need to inform them. We do not have to convince them because we are here to legislate on behalf of Kenyans. We are exercising the sovereign power that is delegated to us. The Supreme Court judges, in their own wisdom, said that we just need to inform the public. They do not have to agree with you because legislation is not done in public. It is done on the Floor of this House. One thing that shocked me about public participation is that a judge declared an Act of Parliament unconstitutional. He said that the advert that was released to the public was done in English and not Kiswahili and yet, he was delivering his judgement in English. He did not do it in Kiswahili. Without belabouring the matter, it is time for the Public Participation Bill to come to this Floor of the House. The Supreme Court has spoken on it. It has cleared the path. Now we need to get a proper Public Participation Bill on the Floor of the House so that we can dispense of that matter once and for all. Kenyans have suffered in the sense that any legislation that is made by their representatives is normally declared null and void by the courts. The courts are legislating through the back door. That matter must come to a rest. I want the Leader of the Majority Party to weigh in on this matter. I am also concerned about the issue of femicide. Our women are being killed kienyeji . Today, one has been killed and her body parts thrown in Lang’ata, though she resided in Eastleigh. We also need to talk about that matter. Let the Leader of the Majority Party leader pronounce himself on the issue of the Supreme Court and public participation. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}