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{
    "id": 591390,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/591390/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 113,
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    "content": "and yet one of the mischief this Constitution was addressing is the old Constitution where the president was everything about the executive. However, this Constitution now requires the president to govern through the Cabinet. The Cabinet is an important institution within the Executive. Within the Executive, we have independent offices and commissions. Within the Executive structure, you can see all these institutions that actually exercise executive authority, outside the presidency. In fact, they are not under the control or direction of the President or the Deputy President. Similarly, in the Judiciary, the courts as constituted, even at the ordinary tribunals, including court marshals have different functions. For example, a magistrate court cannot sit and preside over a court marshal. That is a special court. Within the Judiciary itself, although there is some kind of hierarchy, you can find that the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, does not have all the powers. It exercises its authority only in certain specified functions as required under the Constitution, as the court of last resort or as an advisory court as it were. Within Parliament, it cannot be that the Senate was created just for us to come and sit here talk and go home then claim our allowances. Indeed, this definition that is contained in the Constitution that Parliament consists of the National Assembly and the Senate was supposed to mean something. In the old days, Parliament consisted of the National Assembly and the President. In fact, not the National Assembly and the President; it was the President and the National Assembly. This meant something. It meant the President was a component of Parliament; he was a Member of Parliament. Therefore, one of the things that this Draft as presented ably by the Chairman of this Committee, is supposed to address something in the Constitution which probably was not provided for but to make it clear that, when it comes to legislation both the National Assembly and the Senate have a function. Finally, when a law is enacted or it is a document passed by both Houses which comprise National Assembly and the Senate. Historically, you would find that institutions which were meant to play a role, if by law they are not well crafted out, you ran into a lot of problems. One of the problems that we ran into is that the design and the authors of this Constitution, when it came to implementation, somehow, including us who were supposed to implement this Constitution, decided to play around with the Constitution in such a way that it is not working as it was originally designed. We have had similar situations before, including the Lancaster"
}