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"id": 503314,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/503314/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. A.B. Duale",
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"speaker": {
"id": 15,
"legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
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"content": "Hon. Speaker, I am very shocked. First, I want to raise fundamental issues. Even in the United States of America, currently, the Minority Party is in the Government. In any scenario, the Government will sign public Bills. So, I pray that the day hon. Gumbo and his party forms the Government, if we will be the minority, if we form the Government with a minority, we will sign the Bills, which is highly unlikely. Secondly, hon. Speaker, and you have made a Communication on this matter, the Leader of Majority Party signs a Bill, a First Reading is done and it is sent to committees to critique the Bill. So, there is no way a Committee will sign its own Bill and it is referred to it for critique. Even Private Bills by Members of the National Assembly will be sent to Committees to critique and a report is brought. My good friend, hon. Gumbo is an engineer; he is not a drafter. Before a Bill comes to the National Assembly, it goes through able drafters at the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC), the Law Reform Commission, the Attorney-General’s Office and then it comes to the able Directorate of Legal Affairs of the National Assembly, that will look at the Bill. I went through clause by clause of this Bill and its flow is as clear as the day to the night. It is as clear as the way I drive from Nairobi to Thika, to Mwingi to Garissa. So, it is as clear. I am wondering where hon. Gumbo sees the contradiction. He should have pointed out. Finally, and this is where I have a problem, when you are a Member of Parliament, under Article 95, you are either a Member of Parliament for the great Rarieda Constituency or Garissa Township. You have no choice. It is not like my dress my choice. When you become a Member of Parliament, whether a Bill is voluminous or a two page Bill, the onus is for the National Assembly, in its individual Members and Committees, within the time set in the Standing Orders, to discuss the business of the House. We cannot say that we do not want to see a big Bill like the Insolvency Bill that will change the way we do business in our country. I want the Chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, hon. Chekong’a to listen to me. He is busy collecting signatures to amend the Standing Orders, which I agree with and he has got more than 150 Members. At what stage does a Member of Parliament choose the volume of a Bill? We make legislation for the people of Kenya. The Insolvency Bill is the key to better ways of doing business in our country. The Company Bill has been in the House for the last nine months. In fact, I will ask, as the Leader of Majority Party, that you give direction on why we are not dealing with the Companies Bill and the Insolvency Bill."
}