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{
    "id": 680556,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/680556/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 436,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "For the Chair to suggest that I should have followed to confirm that the amendments appeared in the Order Paper, reduces me to working in the Clerks’ Office. I am not sent here by the people of Rarieda to work in the Clerks’ Office. We have to be told why we are called before Committees. It is wrong and demeaning as an MP and a Chair, for a fellow Chair to say that when I appear before his Committee, after he has called me, that is an informal engagement. Why then was I called? The ownership of amendments is with the Member. I am keen to see what action your office is going to take on the Clerks’ Office. Making amendments is not an easy thing, and a walk in the park. I sit up to 2.00 a.m., in the morning. I cannot make amendments and somebody decides that because he does not like them they should not appear on the Order Paper. Then I am treated with flippancy and told to find out why he or she did not check the Order Paper. Is it my business to check the formatting of the Order Paper? Is this how we are going to work? I have been in this Parliament for nine years and I have never seen this before. If the Office of the Clerk is failing, that is something of concern. However, you cannot tell me that I should check to find out if what I proposed is in the Order Paper. Why then are we being asked to make amendments? I am very upset and this matter has to be taken seriously. If we are not supposed to make amendments, we should be told so, so that we do not waste time. If amendments have to conform to certain trends, we should also be told so. We cannot be treated like this. This is not a nursery school! This is the National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya. Hon. Members spend time because they do not even have research officers to make their amendments. We do them on our own. How do I make amendments and then I am called to appear before the Committee for one-and-a-half hours? I have engaged the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade on the Public Audit Bill and the Public Procurement Bill. Why then did it not apply that time? Now, when I have gone through the same process the Chair comes here on record to say that was an informal engagement. Is that the way we are going to work in this House? Are there Hon. Members who are more equal than others, if the Chair feels that he is not comfortable with certain amendments? To the extent, I know that amendments are owned by the Hon. Member who proposes them. Whether the Chair is comfortable with the amendments or not is not the issue. I am appealing to you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I sent my amendments and they were received by the Office of the Clerk. Once they are received, it is not my business how they move within Parliament. If there is an issue, let us argue them on the Floor of the House. I am not a mad person. I have proposed amendments to many laws, probably more than any other Member. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am very upset about this matter because I have been treated most unfairly. Your Office must take action on the person who was responsible for my amendments not appearing on the Order Paper today."
}