HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 185600,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/185600/?format=api",
"text_counter": 194,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Abdikadir",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 1,
"legal_name": "Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed",
"slug": "abdikadir-mohammed"
},
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, most of the work of the House, even in legislation, really takes place in Committee work. That is where we are headed, to strengthen Committee work. We have several important Bills before us, in Committee. The Bill on the roadmap on the constitutional review is before our Committee. We have very many members of the public who wish to inter-face with our Committee in terms of the work the Committee is doing, and to impact an import on the work the Committee is doing All this requires the Committee to have time, so that its Members can sit outside the time of the House. It is not that we have not been sitting while the House was in session. It is that we have been sitting, literally, two to four times a week for the previous several months. That work will be most helped if we can now take a breather and handle it properly, especially for the two Bills, or the three Bills, or the four Bills that are out of the Serena process. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another function of a Member of Parliament is representation. Of course, representation is done when hon. Members either seek answers for Questions or represent their constituents in the House. However, this function is performed more effectively when, as they say, \"rubber touches the road.\" It really happens when you are with your constituents at the constituency-level, or when you are doing their work in Government offices or in other public offices in Nairobi. That work will really be helped if we can have that recess. Finally, people have talked about the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). The CDF chunks that were released, for the majority of Members of Parliament, 50 per cent or more of the allocation for the last financial year is what has been released. In my case, 75 per cent of the allocation for the last financial year has just been released. So, for most Members of Parliament, we have between Kshs25 million-Kshs30 million in the CDF account just two or three weeks ago. That money requires the actual presence of - not by law, but practically speaking - the Member of Parliament, so that it can be properly oversighted. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, for purposes of the work that we have, as Members of Parliament, and for purposes of balancing the different compartments that a Member of Parliament has to do, it is important that we negotiate this process, so that we have some time. Finally, on the importance of the Report that is supposed to have been tabled, I believe we will have time for that Report when the House re-convenes. There is nothing which will stop us from debating it then. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}