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{
    "id": 3697,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/3697/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 542,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Abdikadir",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1,
        "legal_name": "Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed",
        "slug": "abdikadir-mohammed"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. In view of time, I will be very brief. When we were selling the Constitution to the people of Kenya, there was propaganda to the effect that once we passed the Constitution, that would open the country to all sorts of international laws, treaties or accords. The fact that we are passing this Bill is a very clear indication that international laws or treaties do not automatically become part of our laws. They are either customary laws of international nature that are accepted by everybody or they have to be ratified through a statutory process. This Bill provides that statutory process because laws in this country are made by the Parliament of this country. By ratifying international accords, the Parliament of this country is giving its approval to that law and, therefore, adopting and domesticating it. The second issue is that the Constitution is supreme. If you look at the Bill, you will see that it says that the international treaties we are ratifying must meet our constitutional thresholds, must be in line with the constitutional values and must be acceptable by our Constitution which again means that our Constitution is supreme. For example, this country has had a lot of talk about abortion. It had a lot to talk about other issues. The Constitution is very clear that abortion is not allowed. If there is a treaty out there that says that abortion will be on choice, you or this Parliament may not ratify because that is contrary to the Constitution. So, the fact that this law gives the procedure and clearly states the structure of adoption of those processes is very useful. In the interest of time and that of my colleagues, I support."
}