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{
    "id": 187283,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/187283/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 249,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Munya",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for East African Community",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 279,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Konzolo Munyao",
        "slug": "joseph-munyao"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, to correct my colleague who I have a high regard for, I do not purport to be a 2202 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 30, 2008 lawyer. I am, indeed, a lawyer who is trained and qualified. The issues I am raising are very fundamental. Even if you look at the Motion, it is even vague. It is vague in the way it is drafted because she is talking about gender parity and regional balance. She then says: \"Matters incidental thereto and connected therewith\". What are these matters? Once she has provided for gender parity, regional balance and inclusion of non-members of Parliament to serve in the PSC, what are these other matters that she is calling \"incidental thereto and connected therewith\"? What are they? Why could she not put them in the Motion so that we can clearly know what she intends to do with the Motion once we have passed it? So, what exactly are these other matters? Is she going to add the remuneration for these other members who will be sitting independent of the allowances that Members of the PSC get? Are these people who are going to be serving in the PSC employed permanently on a salary or allowances? Are these the incidentals that she is talking about? So, this Motion is vague and dangerous. It is going to water down the powers and standing of Parliament in our constitutional order and, therefore, I very strongly oppose it. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, secondly, on the issues of gender parity and regional balance, even though they are not provided in the Constitution, they can be achieved without amending the Constitution. It is a question of consulting with the party leaders when we are nominating Members to the PSC so that we make sure that women are included and regional balance is observed. We do not have to have a substantive amendment to the Constitution to provide for that because the Constitution is silent about that. It is not against it. There is no provision in the Constitution against gender balance. So, it is an administrative issue that can be handled without going through the process of amending the Constitution. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the other very important issue is that we have a lot of pending issues with the Constitution that we have not dealt with over the years because we have been waiting for the review of the Constitution, so that we can be able to provide for all those that we have been wanting to provide. We have been generally avoiding piecemeal amendments to the Constitution to provide for small matters here and there, by waiting for a review. I know already there are those that are pending in the House that will provide for the major review where we will look into even these matters that the hon. Member intends to bring with this amendment. So, we do not need piecemeal amendments of the Constitution at this stage. Let us wait for the major review when we will look at all the matters that need to be looked into. With those few remarks, I oppose."
}