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    "id": 355585,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/355585/?format=api",
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    "content": "misleading yourselves and in the process trying to mislead others. The Speaker will be firm on this. It is only on procedural matters that are not expressly provided for and in that case only then the Speaker must be guided by the Constitution, the statute law, traditions and customs. It is only to that extent. Hon. Kinoti Gatobu, claiming to stand on a point of order, and he was right to do so, made reference to Standing Order No.172. He is right. The hon. Member for Mukurweini had made reference to the fact that the Chief Whip and others will select Members. That is why I agree with hon. Gatobu. It is not the Chief Whip. Rather, it is the Committee on Selection which is provided for clearly in Standing Order No.172. Once the Committee on Selection nominates Members to sit in various Committees which are chaired by the Leader of the Majority Party comprising also the Leader of the Minority Party and others expressly provided for there, he will come and lay a paper which will be debated here for the House to approve those nominations. Hon. Kinoti Gatobu asked how the Committee on Selection will nominate Members. The traditions and customs come in now. They will consult with the leadership of their parties or coalitions. I know that several Members have mistakenly written to me seeking to be put in Committees and I have had to return their requests telling them, “Sorry, I do not participate in that.” The Speaker is not a Member of the Committee on Selection. So, please, consult the Leader of the Majority Party who is the Chairperson of that Committee on Selection. Also consult the Leader of the Minority Party. For avoidance of doubt, “there shall be a Select Committee to be designated Committee on Selection consisting the Leader of the Majority Party who shall be chairperson; the Leader of the Minority Party; and not less than 11 and not more than 19 Members who shall be nominated by Parliamentary parties and approved by the House.” The selection was done. You as a House approved them. Hon. Kinoti Gatobu, you participated in approving. So, do not ask what you are supposed to do. Go there and sit in the Committee if you are a Member. If you are not, you as an Independent, have my sympathy and all your other colleagues who are independent Members as well as Members of parties that are not recognized as parliamentary political parties. That is a party that does not have five Members here and which is not a Member of a coalition. You as an Independent, you have my protection and all your other colleagues. If the Leader of the Majority Party in conjunction with the Leader of Minority Party and others who sit in the Committee on Selection bring lists of membership into Committees that do not contain names of Members who are Independent, then the Speaker will protect you. That is because you must be in a Committee. Hon. Members, earlier on, I had indicated that on Tuesday, the House had received the Division of the Revenue Bill. Our own Standing Order No. 233 requires that within ten days, the House - and not just the committees--- We are tussling over the committees. The House should have done away with that Bill. After ten days, the Bill should be deemed to have left the National Assembly and gone to the Senate. That is ten days from Tuesday when it was laid before the House; but, of course, calculating the days from yesterday."
}