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{
"id": 1014423,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1014423/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kibwezi West, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Patrick Musimba",
"speaker": {
"id": 1804,
"legal_name": "Patrick Mweu Musimba",
"slug": "patrick-mweu-musimba"
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"content": "my colleague, Hon. Ole Kenta and the Committee, for such a robust Report. Noteworthy is the fact that Parliament is literally at the verge of being taken for granted. As Parliament, we are anchored in the Constitution of Kenya, 2010; and the functions bestowed upon the Executive in terms of implementing legislations, Petitions and Motions from this House is not a request. One cannot hide under technicalities. I will draw upon the function of His Excellency the President on part (c) of Article 132 of the Constitution, which requires the President to bring forth reports on the implementation of national values every year. The President, since 2013, has done that without fault. If we fast-track downwards - you know we are looking at a framework - the framework is already in our Constitution in Article 153 under Sub-Article (iv), which bestows upon every Cabinet Secretary in the Government of the Republic of Kenya a responsibility to periodically furnish this House with reports on the progress of what is going on in their dockets. Other than the Office of the Leader of the Majority Party, I believe the Committee on Implementation has to utilize this particular Clause in the Constitution to ensure that every Cabinet Secretary tables reports every quarter of the year not only about motions or legislations, but also on matters which are before the Departmental Committees for further interrogation by the House. Why do I say this? Parliament does not Act in vain. We act to implement the agenda of moving Kenya forward in terms of improving the lives and livelihoods of Kenyans. We have an empty medium-termed framework which is targeted at achieving Vision 2030 and the greater goal of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as set out by the United Nations (UN) for the prosperity of the citizenry around the world. So, when we come up with these motions and petitions, it is in response to issues affecting the society. Therefore, the Committee has to act actively. Since 2013, we have seen only a handful of Cabinet Secretaries appear mostly before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) or the Public Investments Committee (PIC), where ministry officials and management teams of parastatals are required to respond to queries as they appear in the audit reports on their dockets. They are required to explain how they have utilized their funds, and that is done religiously. Whenever we are going towards budgets, the Executive, the Judiciary and, indeed, Parliament, through the Parliamentary Service Commission, never misses the deadline on the dot. So, the Committee has to be encouraged to enforce, either through the Secretary to the Cabinet, so that we have a mechanism where every quarter we write to the Secretary to the Cabinet for forward implementation or recommendation to His Excellency the President, saying that the following Cabinet Secretaries are falling behind in keeping pace with the resolutions of the House. So that, by the time we are talking, as a House, about either removing a Cabinet Secretary, it is all founded within a proper framework. I believe this was the intention when Hon. Raphael Tuju was appointed to become a Cabinet Secretary with portfolio to specifically deal with Parliament. That was, I think, the thinking. So, we need to pursue that so that we have periodic reports that go back through the Committee on Implementation and, indeed, our Hon. Speaker or the Clerk telling them what has, so far, not been done. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, let me go down memory lane. If we had implemented the Constituency Innovation Hubs (CIHs) or the Laptop Programme and we had followed it to a nut, when a pandemic as COVID-19 would have hit us, we would have been better prepared as a nation. This is alive. These are the resolutions of this House that, as we move forth, how efficiently are we applying the funds that we utilized within the departmental committees so that in the event somebody goes to court… The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}