Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 294258,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/294258/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 565,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "which they surrender their powers to make day to day decisions about such things, either to the Executive which forms the Government or to Parliament which represents them. So, there are a lot of provisions in our Constitution, obviously, that give opportunities for publics – it is called stakeholders – to make views known but surely we cannot have a Government run by stakeholders. The Government definitely must listen to stakeholders but stakeholders cannot hold the Government hostage to making certain decisions or proposals. So I am just cautioning that we should not go too far in a populist interpretation of the Constitution that surrenders a Government which is elected democratically to do its job precisely because it gets its mandate from the people to rule democratically. By ruling democratically, it means that as I said earlier, that taxation will only be legitimate if there is representation. Representation is there to ensure that there is effective oversight responsibility by the Government to make sure that the way in which the Government is proposing to raise revenues is both legal and constitutional and that it is going to go a long way to serve the interests of the people. That is what I am saying and I think this is the assumption and the foundation of this Part II which tells you: “Look, yes, we are going to do this but we are now prescribing how you can systematically follow your oversight responsibility so that there is a symbiotic relationship between the Cabinet Secretary or the Treasury and Parliament. That is the point I am making. Now let me just illustrate my point by looking at some of the issues that you raised. In Section 12(a), I think my friend, Mr. Mbadi said that this is unacceptable but let me just read it so that we understand what we are talking about. I was worried when my colleague and hon. Member said in no uncertain terms that these proposals are unacceptable. But let me read it:- “Subject to the Constitution and this Act, the National Treasury shall- (a) make, monitor, formulate and implement macroe-conomic policies involving expenditure and revenue.” Did I get you right, that you said it was unacceptable?"
}