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{
    "id": 180654,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/180654/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kamama",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 165,
        "legal_name": "Asman Abongutum Kamama",
        "slug": "asman-kamama"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me this time. I also want to thank my colleague, Mr. Mungatana, for donating the time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to fully support the Motion by hon. Ethuro that Parliament must actually be made independent. It must never operate at the whims of the Executive. But just before I go into the details of my contribution, I also want to join my colleagues in congratulating the President-elect of the United States of America, hon. Barrack Obama, for being elected as the first Afro-American President in that country. It was really exciting to all of us. It is really an inspiration to most African children that, indeed, they can make it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, hon. Obama will bring a lot of changes. I am very sure that terrorism will reduce substantially. I am sure the entire American foreign policy towards the Middle East and Africa will be favourable. It is not going to be business as usual. I also want to pay tribute to the late T.J. Mboya for organising an airlift. That was a visionary leader and if he did not do this, we would not be celebrating the success of our brother, Obama from Kogelo. Kenyans have asked for a new Constitution from 1992 up to this time. Kenyans have lost their lives in search of a new Constitution. We needed a new Constitution yesterday. I am happy that the Grand Coalition Government is for a new Constitution. But just before we do that, we want piecemeal legislation. Sections 58 and 59 of the Constitution need to be amended, so that this House can be independent. Just to paraphrase what Hon. Obama, the President-elect, says, \"change goes to Washington, Washington cannot change itself\". I want to say that State House cannot change itself. This House must change State House. I want to ask the hon. Members to let us move with speed and encourage hon. Ethuro to come up with the Bill as soon as possible. We want the House Business Committee to prioritise this agenda as an immediate agenda of the House, so that we can make Parliament independent. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have a good President at this point in time. At some point in future, we may end up having somebody like the late Abacha. You can imagine what somebody like Abacha can do to this country. We do not want this House to actually be tossed up and down by a sitting President. We want it to be independent. We also want the principle of separation of powers to be looked into. We are told that the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary have separate powers. That is actually not in practice. We know that the calender of Parliament is decided by the whims of the President. The President can decide to dissolve Parliament or change its sitting dates. In fact, I remember a former President who used to say that the election date was his secret weapon. This issue of a secret weapon must be brought to a stop. The methodology of doing it is by passing this piecemeal legislation. I think all of us will support this Motion. If we have a Member of Parliament who is opposed to it, then we are talking about sycophants. That is going to be sycophancy in this House. We need to support it, whether we are from the Government side or from whichever side. We do 3292 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 5, 2008 not even have an opposition in this House. We are all in one Grand Coalition Government. So, let us support the Motion because nobody is in the opposition. With those few remarks, I beg to support the Motion."
}