Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1003931,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1003931/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 354,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Faki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13211,
        "legal_name": "Mohamed Faki Mwinyihaji",
        "slug": "mohamed-faki-mwinyihaji-2"
    },
    "content": "Under Article 171(2)(h), the Constitution provides for the appointment to the Judicial Service Commission of one woman and one man to represent the public, and expressly excludes lawyers from appointment to the Commission under that Provision. The import of this is that all serving and retired judicial officers, including judges, magistrates and advocates are barred from appointment to the Judicial Service Commission to represent Members of the public. One example from the Statute is the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) which is established under the Independent Policing Oversight Act No. 35 of 2011. Section 10(2)(e) thereof excludes from the appointment to the Board of IPOA any person who is a serving police officer or retired from such an office within the five (5) years immediately preceding commencement of this Act. The import of this is that one must either be an outsider to the Police Service or have retired from the police service before the year 2006, which is five (5) years before commencement of the Act to qualify for appointment to the IPOA board. Coming to the position in issue, which is appointment of a non-Member of Parliament Commissioner to the Parliamentary Service Commission, the Committee noted the emerging practice to nominate and appoint former Members of Parliament to serve as non-Member Commissioners to the Parliamentary Service Commission. In the current Commission, for example, the non-MP of the Commission served as a Member of the National Assembly up to August 2017 following which he was nominated and appointed to the Parliamentary Service Commission in 2018. The Current nominee, Hon. Rachel Ameso Amolo served as a Member of the National Assembly until August 2017. The import of approving the nominee in this case will mean that the Parliamentary Service Commission comprises of eight (8) serving Members of Parliament and two immediate former Members of Parliament. This, in the considered view of the Committee runs counter to the spirit of the Constitution and defeats the purpose for which the two positions were established. On this basis, the Committee, therefore, found that the nominee was not suitable for appointment to the Commission under Article 127(2)(d) of the Constitution at this time. Composition and appointment of Members to Commissions and independent offices: The second ground on which the Committee recommends that the Senate rejects the nomination of Hon. Rachel Ameso Amollo to the Parliamentary Service Commission is the question of regional and ethnic diversity in the Commission and the representation to the greatest extent possible of the people of Kenya. The Parliamentary Service Commission is one of the Commissions and independent offices listed under 248(2) of the Constitution. In respect, the provisions of Chapter 15 of the Constitution applied. Article 250(4) therein provides as follows: “Appointments to commissions and independent offices shall take into account the national values referred to in Article 10, and the principle that the composition of the commissions and offices, taken as a whole, shall reflect the regional and ethnic diversity of the people of Kenya.” Madam Temporary Speaker, one of the aspects that the Committee was required to investigate--- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}