Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 180639,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/180639/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 284,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. ole Metito",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Regional Development Authorities",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 199,
        "legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
        "slug": "judah-ole-metito"
    },
    "content": " Thank you Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to support this very important Motion. 3288 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 5, 2008 First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Mover of this Motion, my good friend, Mr. Ethuro. I think this Motion should have been brought to this House yesterday. I would like to urge him to fast-track the preparation of the Bill once this House passes this Motion. It should not be like last time. I think this is the third time that this Motion is being brought to this House. However, it is yet to see the light of day. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the most important thing about this Motion is that it tries to promote the principle of separation of power from the Executive and Legislature. This is enshrined in our Constitution and I think it is a high time that it be implemented by the amendment of Sections 58 and 59 of our Constitution. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this House has a duty to legislate. It has a duty to represent people. It also has an oversight role. When we do not control the calender of this House, there is going to be a vacuum just as it has been there before. There has been a vacuum in legislation, representation and oversight. This has been brought about by the frequent recesses that we go on; sometimes, we have unnecessary dissolutions and adjournments. Some of them are not foreseen by the House, because they are done somewhere else. I think we cannot afford to have a vaccuum in legislation. There should be no time when the people of this country are not represented. There should be no time when this House cannot oversee the Government. If we pass the Bill for this House to have a calender, all these things will be in the past. Take the United States of America (USA); there is no vaccuum at all, even in representation. In the House of the Representatives, there is no single day when it is dissolved. People are on campaign until the day of elections. This was well expressed in the just concluded election where somebody voted and went to campaign in other States. I would like to see this Motion passed, so that every time, we have institutions in place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other very important issue that this proposed Bill should address is the sequence of events. When we have the calendar for Parliament, the time for elections will be predetermined. We should also have the transition period predetermined. We should have a mechanism for predetermining the transition period. In most cases in Africa, elections are done and the office bearer is sworn in immediately. In Zambia, even before the announcement of the winner was made, the Kenyan delegation was already flying to Zambia. Immediately the winner is announced, the swearing in is done immediately. I want to see a situation where events are predetermined. In the USA, it is known that the first Tuesday of November after four years, there is going to be a presidential election and then the 20th of January of the coming year, there is going to a swearing in and the eventual taking over of office by the winner. That is a period of not less than three months. We should have put these things in our constitution when we were repealing Section 2A of the Constitution to pave way for multiparty democracy in Kenya. I would like to support this Motion and ask that it should be fast-tracked for us to start implementing it."
}