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{
    "id": 983478,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/983478/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 65,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I want to second this Motion. We are seeking the concurrence of the House to vary the calendar of this House. Contrary to what used to happen, Parliament, as it is today, is the only institution that controls its calendar. There is no way that anyone can order Parliament to close. In fact, some journalists were asking me yesterday when the Speaker will close Parliament. I told them to go and read the Constitution properly to know that it is only Parliament that can adjourn its own sittings. That is in fulfilling our obligation as provided for in the Constitution. Allow me to say a few words. Hon. Members, we are very good at violating rules and some of them we enacted. For example, it is clear that Members of Parliament, eight months before elections, are not supposed to conduct harambees or do fund raising. However, you will find Members cutting corners to organise harambees. I hope on this one they are not going to play clever. If it has been said that we should not hold meetings, let Hon. Members respect that. Let us pray that this pandemic ends as soon as possible, so that we resume our normal duties. We should not reach out to people and congregate more than five people. We should not call meetings in our homes. We should not meet people in our communities. It is high time we took this matter seriously so that the jokes that we had here this afternoon remain to be jokes. Let us take this matter seriously because it is of international concern. Finally, I want to share what Hon. Duale said. As we deal with this crisis, yes, we have to deal with the question of protecting lives, but immediately after that, we must look at the economic side of it. That, I think, should worry us a lot. It is high time the State agencies responsible took up the matter. That will be better for us as a country. Otherwise, we will come back saying that the pandemic is over but we do not have an economy. I second."
}