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{
    "id": 8885,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/8885/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 454,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I will speak on just two things arising from what the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs has just presented to this House this evening. About consulting the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC), I want to confirm that we actually agreed with the Minister that before this Bill is presented to the House, we would have an opportunity to seat with him, but up to this day, the Minister has not done so. I also want to indicate to this House that the Constitution is very categorical; that if there are any impediments towards the implementation of this Constitution – I treat all the issues that the Minister has brought to this House as impediments or difficulties – those impediments need to be addressed with the CIOC. That is a constitutional provision. We are not begging for it. We are just asking the Minister to follow the Constitution. Finally, the Minister has not addressed clearly the issue that we raised about Article 256(1)(b) about the omnibus. I do not think it is right for the Minister to say that all the proposed amendments relate to the elections of 2012. If you look at this Constitution in totality, almost all the Articles relate to each other. So, really, we have to be very careful. If you ask me, some of the proposed amendments touch on representation and some touch on the date of the election. So, we need to be very sure. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the very final one on this one is about quoting how Thomas Joseph Mboya made proposals for amendments in the first Constitution. I have a lot of respect for the late Thomas Joseph Mboya, who came from my area and whom we are very proud of, but you will agree with me that some of the initiatives that were started by the late Thomas Joseph Mboya are what made Kenya to have a new Constitution last year. Therefore, we should not be proud of some of those initiatives which messed the old Constitution, which we had to discard in its entirety because of unnecessary amendments cured through Article 256(1)(b), which seeks to ensure that no mischief of lumping various amendments together in one Bill when you propose constitutional amendments is encouraged. Thank you."
}