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"id": 180655,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Medical Services",
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"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to take this opportunity to thank hon. Ethuro for moving this Motion. This is a constitutional Motion. On the Government side, we are of the opinion that, right now, we are completely committed to getting a new Constitution for this country. Indeed, the House, yesterday passed the Constitution Review Bill that provides the review path in which we shall travel together as a country, towards gaining a new Constitution. We, as a Government, support the view that there should be, indeed, some changes in the way we operate in terms of a calender for Parliament. However, I think that it might be better if the whole thing comes as one package in terms of a proper constitutional change that we will all own and participate in the making of the same. There will not be a fuss in the event that the hon. Member brings a Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill before the real constitutional change. We will support the independence of Parliament. I say so because the road that we have travelled has been long. Today, I stand very proud as a Member of this Government and in particular of the Executive, to say that I support such a Bill. I have looked at our history and it is there for us to see what has been happening since Independence. There has been an inept desire on the side of the Executive to take control of Parliament since Independence. There has been a desire on the side of the Executive to abuse the principle of separation of powers. Therefore, the road that we have travelled has been long. Today, for me to stand here on this side of the House to confidently support this Motion, indicates that we have travelled a long way. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is good to recall the history of this country. When the first President took over, there were clear attempts at trying to make Parliament not as strong as it should have been, so that the Executive could control it from outside. One of the things that happened very quickly with the presidency of the late Mzee Kenyatta was very quick negotiations to get the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) party and the African Peoples Party (APP) to go into quiet dissolution, so that the Kenya African National Union (KANU) could have a majority in the House and, therefore, control Parliament. This enabled the Executive to control Parliament. We inheritted a bicameral system of Parliament, but in 1966 there were a lot of negotiations initiated by the Executive, coupled with constitutional amendments, to try and emasculate Parliament. The Constitutional amendments took place and the two chambers of the bicameral Parliament then merged into one National Assembly. The 41 members of the Senate, the Upper House then, were then forced to vacate from the Upper House and accommodation was sought for them at the National Assembly. That was a process of emasculating Parliament. It was a clear attempt by the Executive then to try and make Parliament a weak institution that could be moved at the whims of the Executive. It was not the end of that. Earlier on, under the first presidency of this country, we saw the firing of the first Vice-President of this country. That was against the background of formation of a political party, the Kenya People's Union (KPU), that was opposed to the control of Parliament by one party system. After the first Vice-President was fired, the second Vice-President was appointed in about ten days. The appointment of the second Vice-President in such a short time shows clearly that no one was sad about chasing away people who were threatening the control of the Executive on this House. The Third Parliament was dissolved on 20th September, 1974. On 8th November, 1974, the general elections for the 4th Parliament were held. The one thing that happened in that 4th Parliament which made negative constitutional history in this country on 9th June, 1982, was the enactment of the constitutional amendment that converted Kenya into a de jure one party state. November 5, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3293 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what we are doing now in terms of trying to travel from the first presidency to the second and third presidency, is that we cannot really complain of much constitutional interference in parliament. Some independence has been gained. We have travelled a long path since the time of the first presidency, the term of Nyayo era and this term that we are living in. As other previous speakers have said, we must consolidate the gains that we have made. We must consolidate the gains we have made against the Executive so that we can say that Parliament is the supreme organ of the supreme will of the people of Kenya as expressed through their ballot. I believe with all my heart that we should support this Motion. As I have said, the Government supports this Motion. The only issue is that we should have an independent calender and control the way we go and when we come back. We should all know when our term ends. We should all know who will be the next President or Prime Minister as we will decide in the Constitution. All Kenyans should know, so that it is not a question of one person knowing. Parliament should control its calendar. The question that we may need to address ourselves to is: Do we want to do incremental changes to the Constitution or do we want to contain it in the proposed constitutional amendments that the country needs to travel through? The Government and the Official Opposition support this Motion. We would have preferred a situation whereby we tackle the whole thing together. However, if the hon. Member is able to bring the Bill before we achieve the whole constitutional review regime, then we will be able to pass it in this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government supports this Motion. Thank you."
}