Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1553518,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1553518/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 96,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, I seek your indulgence on a matter of procedure. This is a legislative House. The process of legislation begins when a Bill is tabled for First Reading. When a Bill has not appeared on the Floor of the House, it is no longer part of the process of this House. Even the Standing Orders prohibit anticipation of debate. Some very sensitive and important Bills for the country come to this House. Those kinds of Bills require the Executive to first prepare them in their form and shape, and then they come to Parliament. That is why certain Bills have extensive public participation. Yesterday, I saw something somewhere and I wanted to seek the attention of the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning who was speaking on the Finance Bill that we are expecting. If the national Executive will not be able to raise enough revenues, the Chairman announced that we might be forced to increase taxes. It was in the Citizen TV news. I do not know whether that information is factual. It is not the business of this House to increase any tax. It is the business of the National Treasury. We are here to safeguard the interests of the public. For the record, the Finance Bill does not belong to Parliament. It belongs to the national Executive through the National Treasury. The owner of the Finance Bill is the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury. This Parliament has suffered enough for the last two years by carrying burdens for the Executive. We are not members of the Executive. We are the legislative arm of the Government. Our work is very clear in the Constitution - we are supposed to do legislation, oversight and representation. I ask my colleagues to let us desist from defending and protecting the work of the Executive in a manner that is not legislative."
}