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{
    "id": 674821,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/674821/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 167,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kipyegon",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": "cannot just be arrested or be treated like anybody else with a criminal case, especially when we are within the precincts of the Assembly. There is also the question of powers and privileges. We have all come from a situation where a member who had faced the disciplinary committee and had been suspended from this House went to court and the court saw that they should interfere with whatever proceedings took place in this House. To strike a balance, we must also ensure that if the Speakers of the Senate, National Assembly or county assemblies issue a suspension, there must be a limit to those suspensions so that a member may not be suspended for more than three or six months. We should also have a limit of suspension so that people should not feel aggrieved because of representation in those particular houses. I also appreciate the part on the immunity to the speaker and the leaders of the majority party and that of the leader of the minority party in the county assemblies. Access to information is a fundamental right. Every citizen of this country has a right to access information. When you deny people the right to access information, you are contravening the Constitution. This Bill must be amended so that people can access information. The only thing that may be allowed is if that information has not gone through all the stages that it is supposed to go through, either in committees or in the plenary of the House. That information may not be leaked to the Press or anywhere. I agree with that because, sometimes, we have some important issues which are still under investigation or being dealt with in this House. Some people always like to leak it to the Press and address the media on those matters, hence, pre-empt the conclusion and make the issue which is being handled in both Houses or at the committee level insolvent. This particular provision is quite important but it should not contravene the part of access to information. After the conclusion of this debate, I think anybody should seek an interpretation from the courts before it is implemented so that we do not go the way of Hon. Wandayi, where after the passage of some punitive measures, somebody went to court and the court interpreted either way. Therefore, for those people who like going to court, I thought it is prudent for them to seek the court’s interpretation of this particular Bill before it is implemented in the counties so that we do not go back and forth over it. Conclusively, I would also wish to have live television broadcasts in the county assemblies, like what we have in the Senate and the National Assembly. If it is not television broadcasts, it should be radio broadcasts by the particular counties so that members of the public can know how their county---"
}