Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 939712,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/939712/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 110,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Members, as you are aware, under Standing Order No.225(2)(b), I am required to report to the House any Petition other than those presented by a Members. Further, under Article 119 of the Constitution, it is provided the right of any person to petition Parliament to consider any matter within its authority, including petitioning the House to enact, amend or repeal any legislation. In this regard, I wish to report to the House that my Office has received a Petition from one Mr. Joseph Onyango Owuondo who hails from Embakasi Sub-County and is the holder of National Identity Card number 28373243. He is calling for the repealing of all laws relating to idle and disorderly persons. In this Petition, the Petitioner highlights the harassment and tribulations faced by ordinary citizens. The tribulations emanate from constant arrests by police officers under what he avers to be the amorphous and ambiguous charge of being idle and disorderly. The Petitioner claims that some police officers arrest slum dwellers and other jobless citizens on charges of being idle and disorderly but later, upgrade the charges to being drunk and disorderly while well aware that such charges may never be practically proved in a court of law. Further, the Petitioner laments that most of those unwarranted arrests occur on Fridays or towards the end of the month in the obvious assumption that the arrested persons will utilise their incoming salaries or wages to secure their release from police custody. In addition, Hon. Members, the Petitioner avers that the idle and disorderly laws were enacted by the British colonial government in a bid to contain and manage Africans. As such, the laws are now both unnecessary and a contravention of Article 36 and Article 39 of the Constitution with regard to Freedoms of Association, Movement and Residence. It is on this premise that the Petitioner seeks the intervention of this august House to repeal all laws relating to idle and disorderly persons, including Section 182 of the Penal Code, 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."
}