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{
    "id": 510791,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/510791/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 340,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "respect of the National Police Service (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and the National Police Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2013. Allow me, this being a House of records, to take the Chair back to the ruling on that respect on a similar matter raised in respect of the Constitution affecting a Bill submitted to this House. The Chair said the following:- “You will, however, recall that my predecessors have previously ruled on numerous other occasions, in the past, that notwithstanding the approval of any business by the Chair under the Standing Order, the issue of constitutionality can be raised by a Member at any stage of consideration of any business by the House. The request for consideration of the constitutionality of a particular business, however, must be specific. It is through being specific that the Chair is capacitated to revisit the issue”. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this is a ruling of the Chair and the Chair is saying that when you are raising a matter of constitutionality to enable the Chair to consider the matter and rule, you must be specific and you must raise specific issues. Therefore, the attempt of my hon. colleagues to be specific is within the customs and the rulings of this House. The Chair then went on to say the following: “In conclusion, this House has set precedents on these matters; the matters of constitutionality. My predecessors have ruled that a question of constitutionality of a proposal before the Hose cannot be subjected to a vote but to the conscious decision of the Speaker” Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, therefore, that precedent has already been set by this House through rulings of the Chair; that the question of constitutionality can be raised at any stage and when it is raised, the Speaker is obligated to make a conscious considered decision on the matter. Two, the Chair has ruled previously on various occasions that in raising the question of constitutionality, the person raising must be specific. Allow me to be specific on this question of constitutionality in terms of the ruling of the Chair. Hon. Speaker, this Bill introduces or seeks to introduce matters which if even considered by this House would amount to this House itself breaching the vow that we took as hon. Members to defend and protect the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya. I will only cite three examples and I am doing so to fulfill the requirement in a previous ruling of the Chair; that when you raise a matter of constitutionality, you must be specific. Allow me to be specific. This Bill assaults core provisions of the Bill of Rights of our Constitution. It is an assault on the letter and spirit of the Bill of Rights that we have given unto ourselves as a people and we have vowed as a House to defend and protect. Number one---"
}