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{
    "id": 584343,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/584343/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 351,
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    "content": "understand that this is an area with many other people and everybody should come on board. It should also be counter-signed by the member presenting the petition; that is the Member of the County Assembly. This Bill says that a Member of the County Assembly cannot bring a petition, but they can do it on behalf of a petitioner. They can only sign as they present that Petition. So, the Member of the County Assembly is the one who can bring the Petition that has been signed by the petitioner to the county assembly. That is also important as it will create order on how things need to be done. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in this Bill, it states that a petition to the county assembly shall be submitted to the Clerk, which makes it very easy and straightforward. That is the process that we also have here at the Senate. It is even clearer that for that process to proceed, it should not take a lot of effort. The fact that a petition shall be considered in accordance with the Standing Orders is very critical because it means that it is an obligation and it has to be. This is one of the best ways to bring some of the nagging and sensitive issues to the county assemblies because the forum is that once the petition has been put into place, then it must be dispensed off. It was interesting to hear what Sen. M. Kajwang had to say about a petition that went to a particular committee and then they realized that it was in the wrong Committee and that was the end of it. Maybe as we talk about this Bill, we should think about amendments to show if such a situation happened, then there will be a revision process to ensure that the particular petition goes to the specific committee or how to deal with it including invoking petitioners to petition again across certain issues. We do not want to lose many of the petitions because of the technicalities and maybe some of them are actually stage managed rather than real technicalities, if it is a sensitive petition. The idea that feedback also has to be given to the petitioner is important so that they know what is happening. However, I find Clause 6 very interesting that supporting documents have to be given to the county assembly. Many times in many of the petitions, I always have a little bit of worry when documents are being presented especially those that cannot be authentisticated. There is no way to ensure that these are the original documents that were used at the specific time and if there were meetings, if the minutes presented were the actual minutes for the meetings yet they are documents that cannot not be vetted. I know that when people are giving evidence, they do so under oath. There are people who when speaking under oath, they tell the truth but there are others who even when they speak under oath, might not tell the truth. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is, therefore, very critical at this point to ensure that if there is any documentation, then there is a process of vetting that document so that by the time it comes, even the committees which these petitions are committed to understand how those documents have come to the fore. As I conclude, I would like to say that evidence that is presented is critical because it leads us to conclude a situation and answer the right questions as the fact finding process is critical and important. Therefore, the paperwork and the Statements that are given are very critical and they have been carefully understood. We can have an entry point for participation from the members of the public. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}