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{
    "id": 715680,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/715680/?format=api",
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    "content": "“A sitting means a period during which the Senate is sitting continuously without adjournment and includes any period during which the Senate is in committee.” That is the first component. The second - which I want you to listen to very carefully - but two or more periods of sitting within the normal period of one sitting or within an equivalent period shall not rank as more than one sitting. This means that if we had a gazette notice saying we meet from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., that is a normal period.So, you could within that normal period break and go for a cup of tea without taking the Mace and continue and it shall not be counted as more than one sitting. That is my understanding. Finally, I want you to allow me just to add something to what Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. has said. He has brought up a very important point which I meant to speak to, but I wanted the Speaker to make a ruling on the first point that we raised which is in Standing Order No. 62. This is really important because one day, unless we obey the rules of the House, there will be another Speaker sitting where you are sitting and probably there is a bridge between my village and the village where my grandmother comes from and I can come and convince the Speaker to call a Special Sitting. The Speaker can do that if you take the argument of Sen.Murkomen which way I am persuading you not to, because that will be a tragedy of great magnitude. The Standing Order No. 62, particularly 62(b) says:- “For purposes of this part, a special motion is one moved pursuant to any of the following Articles of the Constitution…” All of them are in relation to Articles of the Constitution. The general rule of interpretation of statutes, and that includes delegated legislation, is that if you have a general genre or type of word used in a statute and this one, the commonality of the issues of substance that can be discussed under Standing Order 62(b) all emanate from constitutional provisions. We are saying that really this House should not be having a Special Sitting if it had nothing to do with any of the enumerated provisions of the Constitution. One of the things that we can clear outrightly is that the Bill is a subject of the next Order which has just been called and has nothing to do with the Articles of the Constitution which are mentioned in this Article 62(b). The second point is that if it is something that is exceptional then it requires of you to look at that business to determine whether it is exceptional or has some urgency. I want to convince you that looking at the Bill, there is no sense of urgency. This is a Bill that was published in 2015 and has been frozen since then and has just been revived in the last two months. I, therefore, want to persuade you that there is no urgency just looking at the Bill itself. On the second point as to whether there are circumstances which will find favour with you, to make it a business of this Sitting; what are those circumstances? This is because you have to give a reasoned determination under Article 47. If you make a decision we must know why that decision was made. Under Article 47, I do not see anything which is urgent on this particular Order or business. It is only that Jubilee normally cannot make up its mind in time. You think before you make a decision, once you make a decision, you want to turn it. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}