Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1515493,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1515493/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 111,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Order, Members. Maintain your silence. Hon. Millie Odhiambo has raised two points. I will dispose of one very quickly but for the other, I will allow the House some latitude. As to whether the Speaker, yours truly, should preside over these proceedings, I will dispose of it as follows. One, there is no Motion before the House about the Speaker. I am a senior lawyer in this country. And I am your senior, Hon. Millie Odhiambo. I have read that judgment with a toothcomb. There is nowhere it requires the Speaker to do what you are saying, particularly the final findings of that judgment, which, as a distinguished learned friend, we had an opportunity to read together today. That judgment does not cast aspersions on the Speaker presiding on such matters. In a similar situation in the 11th Parliament, a Motion was brought to this House by the then Member for Kibwezi West, Hon. Patrick Musimba, to discuss the conduct and the possible vacation of office by Speaker Muturi, as he then was. Speaker Muturi presided over the debate, and the vote was taken. The Motion went the way it did. In the 7th Parliament, when I was a fresher in this House, Hon. James Orengo, or one of the then Ford Kenya Members, brought a Motion to discuss the conduct and character of the then Speaker, Francis Xavier Kausai ole Kaparo. Kausai ole Kaparo presided over the proceedings. The Motion was debated and put to a vote, and it went the way it did. I am sure you know that neither Muturi nor ole Kaparo left office based on any Motion. Yours truly, as your Speaker, does not debate or vote. I hold a position of honour to preside over your proceedings. If anybody wants to say anything about this judgment, I will give you an opportunity. And it is going to be ‘yours truly’ to give you a ruling on the matter. It must also be made very clear as we listen to each other. Senior lawyers like Otiende Amollo should know that neither the court nor any authority outside this Chamber can make declarations that affect the conduct of business in this House, except yourselves by voting and by the Speaker giving you rulings. We sit here as a quasi-judicial body. As a quasi-judicial body, I will listen to you and assure you I will make a fair finding. It is like going to court and telling a judge that he will not be fair because the lawyer appearing before him was his classmate. That has no foundation in law or fact. So, I will open the Floor and hear those who want to have similar points of order as Hon. Millie Odhiambo on the judgment. I caution you that the Standing Orders do not allow you to discuss the person or character of any judge, unless you have brought a special Motion to discuss that judge. You can analyse the judgment. You can agree or disagree with it. You can qualify it. You can do whatever you want. But do not disparage or discuss the character of any judge without a special Motion, as is provided for in our Standing Orders. Hon. Millie Odhiambo, that is my direction. Thank you. Hon. Raphael Wanjala, what is your point of order? 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."
}