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{
"id": 441568,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/441568/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Oyugi",
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"speaker": {
"id": 444,
"legal_name": "Augostinho Neto Oyugi",
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"content": "I support the spirit of this particular Report. I support the content of this particular Report but as I proceed to do that, I would like to invite the Speaker and the members of the particular Committee to, perhaps, see with me if at all the amendments that we are making to the Standing Orders would not occasion an amendment of Article 153 of the Constitution. Hon. Speaker, I am looking at the provisions of Section 153 that we rely upon. Article 153(3) is very clear in terms of dealing with Committees of Parliament. However, looking at Article 153(4), I am not so sure that the spirit of Article 153(4) (b), which is to provide Parliament with full and regular Reports concerning matters under their control, is what this particular Standing Order seeks to achieve. So, even though we are proceeding to amend the Standing Orders in a manner that gives effects to the provisions of Article 153 of the Constitution, I really think that, perhaps, we need to give a consideration if really Article 153(4) (b) is what this amendment seeks to do. I would really like to congratulate the Committee because they have done what, for a long time, has caused a little bit of a problem. It is true that the Leader of the Majority Party and the Committee Chairpersons have been appearing like holding brief for the Executive. The Executive and the Legislature are now delinked. Whenever the Chairs of the Committees have been speaking, some of them sometimes have forgotten that Parliament and the Executive have different roles. That is of course the very tenet of the spirit of the presidential system, where you have a distinct parliament and a distinct Executive to provide for checks and balances, as well as for distinct separation of powers. Hon. Speaker, I like the fact that the Committee tried to even explain that if we do not achieve this distinction in good time, the situation would be tricky in the long term, in case we have a minority party having the presidency and the majority party not having the presidency. I would like to bring it to the attention of my colleagues that the essence of a presidential system is the fact that the Executive is the Executive regardless of how many members of their political party belong to this House; and the Legislature is the Legislature checking the Executive in whatever form and context. Now that we are already allowing what we are going to call “The Cabinet Secretaries Time” – which is, of course, going to eat into the time that ordinarily Members of Parliament have, perhaps the Committee could also consider an extension of time. Perhaps the House Rules Committee could consider having extra hours, perhaps on Thursday morning, so that we can have more time allocated for Private Members Bills. The issue of checking the Executive is going to be properly dealt with whenever we are going to ask the Cabinet Secretaries Questions in the Chamber. That means Parliament is supposed to be playing it cardinal role, which is to make laws. You notice that the three hours that we have on Wednesday morning for Private Members’ Motions is perhaps not sufficient, given the numbers of Members of Parliament that we have in this House, and given the number of Bills we might want to consider in terms of legislation. I would, therefore, like to propose that your Committee considers a proposal to have an extra sitting of the House on Thursday morning. Hon. Speaker, I love the comparative jurisprudence and the comparative practice that the Committee showed from the various countries, including the Ghanaian, the United States of America (USA) and the Philippines examples, amongst others. In terms of having Cabinet Secretaries’ Time, two advantages highlighted in this particular Report The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}