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{
    "id": 66058,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/66058/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Musyoka",
    "speaker_title": "The Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 188,
        "legal_name": "Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka",
        "slug": "kalonzo-musyoka"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank my hon. colleagues for raising fairly important thoughts, because they are truly worth listening to. First of all, the hon. Member for Ikolomani quoted the Constitution extensively, and I thank him for that. He has been able to advise me against undertaking what he calls “futile exercise”. I want to assure him that this is not an exercise in futility. If he listened carefully to the Statement that I made, first of all, we got our country back. I want to thank Kenyans because initially, they were of the same view with hon. Khalwale. They thought: “What is the Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs up to?” Of course, I made it clear. Mr. Speaker, Sir, my learned friend, hon. Olago, really likes to quote the media. I can assure him that the days are gone when you could say that you cannot question a directive from the President. Unfortunately, he falls prey to machinations by the media. What I said was that I was an envoy of the president. I did not say anything beyond that. So, for anybody to imagine that if the President says: “Jump”, you jump and if he wants you to commit suicide, you commit suicide, is unreasonable. I think my learned friend would want to be kinder to his senior learned friend. This matter is very important. You should hear the compliments that this country is receiving from within the African continent. The United Kingdom (UK) is a member of the ICC. The United States of America (USA) is not a member of the ICC. Those of us who have got some interactions with officials of the USA over the matter of the ICC know that the USA has been very consistent in lobbying the world to give exemption to the USA to what is referred to as “Article 98”. The effect of that is that even if American soldiers commit atrocities anywhere in the world, they will not be taken to The Hague. So, a lot of countries in Africa and everywhere in the world are beginning to ask questions. As I said, we are a member of the ICC in good standing. For the avoidance of doubt, nobody is trying to pull Kenya from the ICC. The reason as to why I went to hon. Prof. Kaloki and hon. Affey was because the Member for Kibwezi, like hon. Olago, was not convinced about that mission. Indeed, hon. Affey held brief for those Members of this House. You will recall that this House passed a resolution, calling on Kenya to consider pulling out of the ICC, and I was faced with opposition from Members of Parliament from my own party."
}