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"id": 220362,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 185,
"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the Minister for moving this Bill. I congratulate her very much. Since we held the Referendum where Kenyans were given the opportunity to decide on whether or not they will have a new constitution, this House has not had the opportunity to put back the process on track. This Bill seeks to start that process. It seeks to give the House the opportunity to take charge of the constitutional matters that this country has been debating for the last 15 years. We even had the Referendum and got a negative answer. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill did not just come into this House. It came after wide consultations. Various shades of opinion and NGOs came together under the umbrella of the Multi- Sectoral Committee. What happened there was that, initially, there were discussions between hon. Members from various shades of opinion. Later on, there was a demand by the civil society that they must be included in those discussions. The most important thing that was passed after all those discussions, in unanimity, was the need to ask Parliament to entrench the process of constitution-making again. That way, whether it is this Government, the next government or another one, there will be no break in the process of making the Constitution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you recall that day when we sat here past midnight, we were discussing the law and it was important that we finish that day. If we did not do so, the law that formed the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) whose secretary was Patrick Lumumba, would have lapsed and then nothing would have gone on. Since we passed it, we went to the referendum. However, after the referendum, there was no continuity. In fact, the CKRC had to wind up its business because the law that formed and governed it was over. Now, we want in this particular law, to create a secretariat which will be something similar to that commission, but it will never \"die\". We also want to entrench the constitution making process. We want the House to take charge of this whole thing because if, for whatever reason, Kenyans reject the proposed constitution, the commission that will have guided the process all the way will not die. There is a clear provision that after a period of 12 months, if the President does 1606 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 23, 2007 not do anything about it, then Parliament can revive that commission which will then proceed with its work. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the intention of this proposed Bill must be understood with the whole picture of constitution making in mind and the recent history. History has shown us that even if this House agrees, there could be other disagreements that can come after we have all agreed here. It has shown that even if majority of Kenyans agree on what is supposed to be non- contentious, we might go there, during the referendum, they become contentious. We are saying that we now have a good framework that will ensure this House passes a Bill that will enable discussions to go on whether or not people agree. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to also mention some subtle points about this Bill. It creates a very lean organ that can handle contentious issues. It creates various organs. In fact, it creates three main organs, Parliament and the President. These organs, from the experience that we had before, have been made to be manageable. With those few remarks, I beg to second this Bill and beg this House to look at it without emotion and Parliament should take charge, so that we create an institution that will continue irrespective of whether or not, this House agrees or the next President who comes agrees, with constitution making. I beg to second this Bill."
}