Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 594077,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/594077/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 242,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, talking of the Supreme Court, I have read in the news flash, and I am surprised that the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), where I am an active and paid up member, where the Chair and other senior Members of this House are also members, has just announced to the public that we need to scrap it. Although there is freedom of thought and expression, every public officer who is going to speak on behalf of others in the absence of a special Annual General meeting (AGM) or in absence of consultation, then must be warned that they cannot say that the Supreme Court should be scrapped on behalf of members. That is a very serious point. Those of us who believe in the Supreme Court and the responsibility it has, particularly in resolving disputes related to matters of devolution, constitutional offices and interpretation of the Constitution, are very careful not to mix the persons who are serving today and the institution called the Supreme Court. There is a chorus in this nation that every time one is aggrieved by the decision of a particular institution - if it is the Senate - they say scrap it; if it is the county assembly, they say scrap it. If it is the National Assembly which has aggrieved them, they say “scrap the National Assembly”. It is now the Supreme Court and they are saying “scrap the Supreme Court”. We cannot be a country that is always thinking of mob justice and lambasting institutions of governance because you do not agree with their decision. There are people who are grieved and actually do not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision as far as the term of judges is concerned, but they are not calling for the scrapping of Supreme Court from our Constitution. The issue of four years is an important one. However, it cannot be a basis for us to lambast and fight an institution that will be there for more than 100 years. Justice J.B. Ojwang’ is one of the most distinguished professors of constitutional law. He was my teacher and my dean. All the distinguished scholars are serving in this institution and we must respect their opinion. We can disagree with their decisions, but we must do so, respectively. That is what we are trying to do here. We are building institutions that will serve this nation effectively without such interference, where, if the Senate does anything they say scrap the Senate and so on. We believe in our counties. We believe that counties are the centre for development in this country. We believe that more resources should go to the counties. That is not for political reasons. It is bi-partisan. That is why when we were discussing the formula of allocation of revenue, it was not CORD verses Jubilee, because each one of us is fighting for an entity called “county government”. We must also ensure that oversight responsibilities of county assemblies are not interfered with. That is why we have given the county assemblies the independence and the autonomy for them to run their affairs as county assemblies and be held accountable for whatever resources they are going to have. The Senate still has the overall oversight of the county assembly. The Senate will do oversight over all the counties. However, the county entities will be oversighted by the county assemblies. We must warn the county assemblies against complacency, going to bed with the county executive or being lured by little resources, so that they can support scandals in the county. Giving my county assembly as an example, they sat down last week and debated a report that was related to mis-appropriation of public funds, misuse of funds related to building of the governor’s house, the location of the governor’s house, the laws that were flouted and so on. The committee came up with a report and tabled it in the assembly. 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."
}