{"id":686358,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/686358/?format=json","text_counter":104,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. (Dr.) Ottichilo","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":131,"legal_name":"Wilber Ottichilo Khasilwa","slug":"wilber-ottichilo"},"content":"Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this is a Bill that was discussed both in this House and the Senate. All the provisions of this Bill were, in overall, agreed to, except the one which the Senate did not approve. When we came into this House, the Departmental Committee on Environment and Natural Resources rejected the proposal by the Senate. This was an inclusion of a new clause which they indicated as Clause 9(A). In the inclusion of this clause, the Senate brought in quite a number of proposals which were contrary to what was within the Bill itself, particularly Clause 9, Clause 8 and Clause 10. When we sat in the Mediation Committee, we all agreed that the version that had been brought by the Senate was not consistent with our Standing Orders and Clause 8. After mediation, we agreed on the following- If you allow, I can just read for the Members to understand what we agreed. I want to make it clear at the outset that this Bill actually allows the Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) to enter into agreement on exploitation of natural resources. Therefore, we are putting up the conditions under which those agreements should be approved. Those agreements will not be assented to by the President. There will be agreements that will be approved by the CS. I would like Hon. Members to know. They should not think that the agreements will be taken to the Office of the President for assent. This is what we agreed on as a Mediation Committee:- (1) The process of approval of an agreement shall commence in the National Assembly. (2) The National Assembly shall consider an agreement within 30 days of its submission to the National Assembly and shall forward its resolution to the Senate for consideration. (3) If within 30 days of submission of an agreement to the National Assembly it has not forwarded its resolution to the Senate, the Senate shall commence its consideration of the agreement and shall forward its resolution to the National Assembly. (4) If both Houses — (a) approve the ratification of an agreement; or, (b) do not approve the ratification of an agreement, the Speaker of the National Assembly shall, within seven days of the decision, notify the relevant Cabinet Secretary. Our Standing Order No. 50 provides that the whole of this process must be done within 60 days. Therefore, what we agreed as a Mediation Committee is to split the 60 days so that the National Assembly discusses the agreement within 30 days and then we forward our resolutions or proposals to the Senate within those 30 days. The Senate will then discuss the same within 30 days and bring it back to the National Assembly. Depending on the decision, it will be forwarded to the Speaker. Finally, we have put a provision that once an agreement has been discussed in both houses and is presented to the Speaker, the Speaker is mandated to forward it to the Cabinet"}