GET /api/v0.1/hansard/entries/181642/?format=api
HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 181642,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/181642/?format=api",
"text_counter": 262,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Murungi",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Energy",
"speaker": {
"id": 93,
"legal_name": "Kiraitu Murungi",
"slug": "kiraitu-murungi"
},
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have seen how those powers have been used in the past. During the JM Inquiry, when the debate became too hot on the Floor of the House, President Jomo Kenyatta prorogued Parliament for almost one year so that, that debate could not continue. During 1997, as we were negotiating IPPG, we spent a weekend with the late George Anyona crafting a programme for implementation of IPPG reforms. When we came on Tuesday, we found a notice written: Parliament has been prorogued. So, Part IV, which was supposed to be implemented in the IPPG reforms was never implemented and, therefore, causing the problems that we have seen. So, those powers have been misused in the past. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the struggle for second liberation of this country was the struggle to tame imperial presidency. I think time has come for us to rethink the whole institution of presidency and its implications for this country. Some of the permanent tensions that we see in Kenyan politics are because of this institution which we have inherited mechanically without critically looking at the way it should operate in a democracy. Even the recent clashes were because a tribe wanted to have a President. The other one wanted to have a President. That is because everybody believes that if the President comes from your tribe, all the resources and jobs will go to that tribe. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, unless we change that theory in politics, there are going to be permanent tensions and it is going to be a recipe for future trouble and chaos in this country. Time has come for us to abolish direct presidential elections in this country. We should October 29, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3109 only have a situation where wananchi elect their own Members of Parliament, and then they come and elect the President or the Chief Executive Officer of the country, whichever name you give them. We should find a way in the new Constitution on how we are going to have equitable distribution of power and resources in this country. Once we do that, Kenya is going to be a peaceful and prosperous country. If you ask a nursery school child when his or her school is going to open or close the child will tell you, but ask a Member of Parliament when Parliament is going to be opened. They do not know! If you ask them when Parliament is going to close, they have no idea. We look so foolish, even in the presence of our own children when we cannot tell them when Parliament is going to open or close. With those few remarks, I want to support the idea of having a calender for Parliament."
}