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{
    "id": 915328,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/915328/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 285,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Chairman. I am not too sure whether I want to support the Committee because it is a difficult situation. As much as the insurance wishes to get their premiums in good time, we also have a situation where an insurance agency may also not remit money to brokers. The only recourse they have is to go to court which is very costly. So, my worry is that we might have many people losing their businesses. What is of interest to me is from what Hon. Ichung’wah was saying, and I was actually asking him earlier when he became born again. He is speaking the language I have spoken for many years before. Given that he is born again now, I just want to say that if you read Article 115(4) of the Constitution, you will realise that it says: “Parliament, after considering the President’s reservations, may pass the Bill a second time, without amendment, or with amendments that do not fully accommodate the President’s reservations, by a vote supported - a) by two-thirds of Members of the National Assembly”. If we are using the plain English interpretation, it means that if we are ignoring the President’s reservations, we need two-thirds. It also means that if we are passing the President’s version, we also need two-thirds. I know for political expediency, we want to close our eyes to this, but the reality is that we need a two-thirds majority to pass what the President has given as a version. The purpose of this Article is to protect the country from rogue parliamentarians, but also to protect the country from a rogue President. We may not have a rogue President now, but one day, we might have a rogue President and Parliament would pass and reverse everything that President does. For purpose of political expediency now, we may misinterpret, but the reality is that for us to pass the version of the President, we also need a two-thirds majority. That is from the plain English meaning of that Article. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}