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{
    "id": 772616,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/772616/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 51,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Let me join the leadership of the House in welcoming everybody back after the last Session. It gives me great pleasure to support this Motion. It is an important Motion because it relates to a very important Committee of the House that has to determine not only the way the business of the House will be managed, but also what business comes to the House. I fully support the membership. There are some new members in the Committee. They are not new in Parliament, but were not in the previous Committee. Some were in the previous Senate Business Committee. For the reasons already stated, there will be institutional memory. It is also important to welcome our Speaker to the chairmanship of this very important Committee of the House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, having said that, I want to use this moment for reflection. There is so much heat in the country that if we behave as if we are unaware of what is happening, we will be doing a great disservice to the nation. Parliaments are meant to deal with historical moments whenever there is a challenge to the nation. There was a time when Parliament was part of the Office of the President. The budget and administration of Parliament was linked squarely in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government. The Speaker more or less had to report to Harambee House and the Clerk was part of the furniture of Harambee House. It was hon. Aringo who fought very hard to bring independence to Parliament. In fact, there was a great struggle for hon. Aringo, with the Committee that he worked with, to make sure that Parliament was an independent institution. We have political parties and communities, but there comes a time when Parliament should be speaking for the nation. I should be able to cross the Floor and talk to Sen. Beth Mugo, with whom we have fought many battles. But once we begin to look at each other as Kikuyus, Luos, Kambas, and the nation is moving like the River Nile to the Mediterranean, we are doing a great disservice to the nation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was watching a programme the other day where the Chief Justice of South Africa was congratulating the Parliament of South Africa. In fact, he was saying that although both Parliament and the Executive did not understand the authority"
}