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{
    "id": 576403,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/576403/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 278,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Wahome",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1700,
        "legal_name": "Alice Muthoni Wahome",
        "slug": "alice-muthoni-wahome"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I support this Bill. I have three points in support. I have looked at the Bill and the Mover addressed himself to Article 136. This Parliament has a duty to remove the contradictions that are very glaring in the Constitution. Article 136(2) provides that an election of the President shall be held on the second Tuesday together with the election of Members of Parliament. It goes further to talk of every fifth year. That could be four years and one day. When it says in the fifth year, this Article does not say that it shall be at the end of the fifth year. Automatically that then reduces the term of Members of Parliament and the term of the President to four years. Was that the intention of the Kenyan public when they voted for the Constitution? All Kenyans know that we elect a President, Members of President and Senators for five years. So, this article lacks clarity and is not specific. I have a concern because it is states that the election of the President will be with that of Members of Parliament. It is for this House to look into that and see how clarity can be achieved. Article 177 specifically provides for a term of five years for members of the county assembly. A county assembly is elected for a term of five years. Why is that specific provision lacking in Article 136? Was there an intention by the Committee of Experts (CoE), or a deliberate move, to reduce the presidential term to four years. That is what it is. If we read that, we will see that Article 177 provides that Members shall be elected on the second Tuesday, being the second Tuesday in August in the fifth year. I am in support of the parliamentary and the presidential terms of five years, because that is what Kenyans wanted. That is what they intended when they promulgated the Constitution. Any article that purports to reduce that term can be interpreted, or construed, either by a court of law or by any person, to mean that the term of this Parliament or the term of the President is four years; it is be our duty to re-align it. It becomes very serious in relation to Article 259. I do not know if Hon. Ochieng’ referred to that, but when it comes to calculating time, Article 259(5)(c) provides that the period ends at the beginning of the date of the relevant year. That simply means that the term will end at the end of the four years. If we went to elections on the second week of August, then terms would begin on the following day of those four years. In short, we are not even looking at extending this term to December. We need to give clarity to the Constitution and provide a specific provision that is similar to the one in Article 177, which clearly provides that the term of 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."
}