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{
    "id": 492940,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/492940/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 247,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Baiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 8,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njoroge Baiya",
        "slug": "peter-baiya"
    },
    "content": "What I also want to say on the substance of this debate is that I have no doubt in my mind that the National Assembly has every legal and constitutional right to summon Cabinet Secretaries even to constitute the Committee on General Oversight. That is perfectly legal and it is perfectly constitutional. But some of the concerns that are being raised - and I would not want to be dismissive of any - is this: In terms of effectiveness, those are issues that we are going to be dealing with, with time. If you look at the old ways of how we used to run Parliament, we had Question Time sessions. We used to call it the “comedy hour”. I was in this House and I can tell you that hon. Members possibly think that, that was a good time. But it was also very frustrating as you received answers from Cabinet Secretaries who were also Members of Parliament who were considered, at times, to be evasive. I recall one former Assistant Minister - unfortunately, he is no longer with us - the late hon. Ojode. He was rated by hon. Members as one of the most effective Assistant Ministers, but when you look at some of the assurances and promises he made, he did very little. He was accused of being very good at giving promises which he never implemented. That was the experience with Question Time."
}