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{
    "id": 175129,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/175129/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 512,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kiunjuri",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Water and Irrigation",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 175,
        "legal_name": "Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri",
        "slug": "mwangi-kiunjuri"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand to oppose this Motion. First of all, this House is guided by rules, traditions and precedents set through this House. When we came here and passed the National Accord Bill which gave us a Grand Coalition Government, we accepted that at any given time, there must be consultations, mutual respect and consensus on issues that we want to push through this House for the country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of constitution making is very important for us. It is a national issue that cannot be rushed at any given time because the House wants to adjourn today and we suspend issues that are of utmost importance to us. We have political parties and also a coalition of parties in this House. If you look at both the big parties; the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the Party of National Unity (PNU), there are small parties. When the Leader of Government Business says that leaders were consulted, then I fail to understand which leaders were consulted. We are leaders of political parties. Whether we are recognized or not, in our own small way, we are leaders of political parties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the coalition of PNU, we have 26 Members of Parliament from small parties and we have only 109 Members of Parliament. You cannot ignore 26 Members of Parliament and go ahead and table here a list of Members of Parliament and say that there was consultation. There was no consultation and we are asking that whenever we want to pass any important Bill in this House, Members must be consulted. You cannot just come to this Parliament to rubber-stamp decisions of a few people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are fighting for this country today so that the new constitutional order will have no social class, the same way we must fight even within the Government to ensure that people are properly consulted. All animals must be equal. But we cannot talk of all animals being equal and others being more equal than others. We must respect the rule of the majority but the minority should have their say. I propose that the way forward is that, we should not be in a hurry to adjourn. Even if it means adjourning, we can do it tomorrow. We can do that. This is not a constitutional Bill. We can wait until tomorrow. All of us can be here again. Parties can have a chance tomorrow morning to meet and consult. The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill that we passed here today was as result of three Kamukunjis that were held and Members were very patient. Why do I say that we should go and consult? This is because at the end of the day, I have a lot of respect for those names that have been read here. I know that anyone of us can serve in any capacity and in any committee of this House or in the land. However, what we are talking about here today is not about whose name is here but the issue of consultation. So, it is important for us to suspend this matter until tomorrow afternoon when we shall have done enough consultations. With those few remarks, I beg to oppose this Motion."
}