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{
    "id": 755284,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/755284/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 58,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. John Mbadi Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "The Member for Suba South",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. Let me take this opportunity, if you allow me, to quickly congratulate all the Members of Parliament. This is the first time I am addressing this House in the 12th Parliament. I congratulate all the Members who won their seats. I know it was not easy. Having said that, my point of order is a follow up to what Hon. Charles Kilonzo has just raised. I am aware that the HBC is a very important committee of the House. Without it, this House will not have an agenda or we cannot even have order to transact. Therefore, we need to seriously move with speed. I agree that we need to constitute this committee, but I am concerned with the remarks from the Leader of the Majority Party. Before I go to that, I just want to let the House and the Chair know that the National Super Alliance (NASA) Coalition is having a Parliamentary Group Meeting at 10.30 a.m. today. Some of the issues we will be discussing will be with regard to the House leadership, the House committees and, certainly, the HBC will be part of the agenda. Having said that, I wanted to raise a point of order regarding what the Leader of the Majority Party said. He has said that the HBC can transact business before the minority side brings their Members. I am even wondering why the majority side has decided to bring half or parts of the HBC membership before the minority engages to also bring their side. It is going to be the first time the HBC of this House will be voted for twice. I thought tradition always has it that we always have a full HBC which is approved by this House. As I conclude, if my reading and understanding of Standing Order No.171 is correct, it says that there shall be a select committee, to be designated the House Business Committee, consisting of the names or the positions the Leader of the Majority Party read. Therefore, if you have part of this membership at the point of constituting the HBC, have you constituted the HBC? It is not the question of quorum; it is the question of constituting the Committee. We cannot purport to have constituted a committee when we have not followed to the letter the provisions of the Standing Orders. The Standing Orders state that the Committee shall have the Speaker, who is the Chairperson; the Leader of the Majority Party; the Leader of the Minority Party; the Majority Whip, the Minority Whip; and seven other Members. So, you cannot bring four Members and purport to constitute HBC. The Committee can only be constituted by seven other Members, including the Leader of Minority and the Whip of the Minority. Also, that must 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."
}