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    "id": 274000,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/274000/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Chairman, Sir, secondly, if hon. Imanyara would like to raise issues of merit; if he were to say that the proposal by the President is unmeritorious, ill-considered and not well founded given the history, philosophy or whatever it is, indeed, I suggest with great respect to you that it is not an issue that you can rule on at this point. It is an issue for the vote in this House by the hon. Members. The hon. Members know that if you want to override the veto by the President, the Constitution speaks very clearly. You cannot do it by taking a shortcut. You cannot say that the Memorandum is defective in this and that manner. You can only raise the quorum required by Article 46(5), and that is, you, hon. Members, excluding ex-officio Members like myself. You would need to have a 65 per cent vote. I can assure you, if I speak for the Government, that the Government would have no option if this House, by a 65 per cent majority, overruled the President’s veto. That would be the end of the matter. But I submit that it would be unfair, unjust and curtailing the President’s own constitutional authority. I want to remind the hon. Members that the presidency is a succeeding office. In the next decade and decades to come, we will have another President, another one and another one. If we erode the constitutional authority of the President to exercise the powers conferred to him by law, we will have done this country a great injustice. Mr. Chairman, Sir, when hon. Imanyara says that we should look at Standing Order No.55, we ought to remind ourselves that the Standing Orders are themselves subordinate to the statute governing the business of this House, which statute itself, is subordinate to the Constitution. If we entertain any doubt whatsoever as to whether the President was right or wrong, we should read the Constitution. But even if we gave the hon. Imanyara some latitude, no amendment shall be directly negative--- The issue that"
}