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{
    "id": 636601,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/636601/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 378,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. This is a very important piece of legislation. As we debate this Amendment Bill, let us be cognisant of the fact that in 2011, a year after we enacted the new Constitution, the 10th Parliament took time to bring into effect Articles 91 and 92 of the Constitution, which for the first time in the history of this country, constitutionalised political parties and transformed them into constitutional institutions. Let us also admit that at that time, when the 10th Parliament was putting together the Political Parties Act, we were racing against time in terms of beating very tight constitutional deadlines that had been set in Schedule 5 of the Constitution for operationalisation of the Constitution. It is good that this House is taking time to take a fresh look at the Act of 2011 and bring about improvements to the law on political parties. In the beginning, when this Bill was being put together by the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs that was chaired by my learned friend, Hon. Chepkong’a, I got the impression that the motivation was to create a platform to give comfort, succour or the basis for the on and off merger of the Jubilee parties to create the so-called Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP). That appears to have been the primary motivation behind this Bill. Be that as it may, it gives us an opportunity nonetheless, to take a fresh look at the framework of the Political Parties Act. As we do that, I want to urge this House to debate this Bill within the context of the Constitution. I was listening to my good neighbour, the Member for Bondo, suggest that we could have political parties of a regional nature. In Bavaria, Germany, there are political parties whose only area of operation is the region of Bavaria. They do not have any other interests beyond Bavaria. 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."
}