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{
    "id": 274112,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/274112/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 574,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Samoei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 204,
        "legal_name": "William Samoei Ruto",
        "slug": "william-ruto"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Chairman, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will go straight to the point. The issue here is not really the merits of what the President is saying. I think you pointed out earlier that the issue here is: Do the Standing Orders apply to the President? When the President is making a recommendation to this House, does he have to comply with the Standing Orders with respect to his proposals? When the President is making his recommendations to the House on changes on a Bill that has been passed by this House, does he have to comply with the Standing Orders? Does his recommendation need to comply with the Standing Orders; that he cannot make a recommendation that negates what was passed by Parliament? That is an issue. Secondly, if the President makes a recommendation that negates what was passed by this House and, therefore, is in contravention of the Standing Orders, what is the position of that recommendation by the President? That is the issue we need to resolve. The issue of: Is it constitutional? That is the issue. This is going to be a very serious issue which I plead with the Chair to apply his mind to, because it will set precedence. You will notice that when the names of the DPP, the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General were proposed, the contest was about the provisions as put in the Transitional Clauses and the ones that were in the Constitution. Mr. Chairman, Sir, here, you are faced with a situation where you have to set a precedence so that, in future, if the President must comply with the Standing Orders with respect to not proposing recommendations that contravene or negate what was passed--- Even the rule of unconstitutionality applies to the President in his role in the making of the Bills. This is your opportunity to provide guidance to the President, so that in future if he has to make recommendations, they have to comply with the Standing Orders and must be in tandem with the authority given to him by the Constitution to participate in legislation, through recommendations of memoranda, like what he has done. I think the other issues are really issues that will go into merit. But this is not an issue, in my very honest opinion, that we can vote on. This is an issue that you need to make a decision on."
}