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{
    "id": 31546,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/31546/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 443,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Namwamba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Chairlady, this is a fundamental debate which I believe we all should have opportunity to ventilate on the same. I want to plead with this House that as we get into the serious business of rolling out the new dispensation, we must avoid the instinct and tendency to legislate for convenience; to legislate for the short-term, to legislate for what is comfortable now. I think history has given us, Members of this Tenth Parliament, a unique opportunity to reshape the character and the foundations of this Republic. Therefore, I want to plead that even as we debate this critical matter, let us address our mind to some fundamental issues. One, political parties go to elections to seek power to govern on the basis of a defined, distinct ideological or philosophical platform. That platform forms the basis of the contractual relationship between the political party and the electorate. To purport to tell us that you can have a cocktail of ideological positions or philosophies prior to an election can only amount to political infidelity, not political freedom of association. Madam Temporary Deputy Chairlady, I have heard Members mention certain articles of the Constitution which I believe are important to put in the right context. Mr. Murungi made reference to Article 108 of the Constitution and he quoted the position of the Majority Leader. For the record, allow me to read that section:- “The leader of the majority party shall be the person who is the leader in the National Assembly of the largest party or coalition of parties”. That provision does not say that the coalition of parties must be pre-existing prior to elections. In fact, if you are to look at any mature democracy, whether it is a parliamentary system like the United Kingdom (UK), for example, today the Liberal Democrats and the Torries are in some kind of coalition managing the affairs of the UK. They did not come together prior to elections. Each of them fought in the UK elections on a distinct separate platform. Only after elections did the leader of the Liberal Democrats and the leader of the Conservative Party sit down and hammer out an arrangement after the British people had the opportunity to make a decision based on the distinct identity of the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. To, therefore, indicate that this clause in Article 108 pre-supposes that this majority leader can only be leader of a majority of a coalition formed prior to election is misleading. And that, this has come off the lips of a senior attorney and a senior Member of this House is, indeed, unfortunate. Finally, someone has also made mention of the freedom of association---"
}