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{
    "id": 1035298,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1035298/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 350,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Well, I think in the last Leadership Retreat of August of this year, it was resolved that those independent constitutional commissions and independent offices are at liberty to approach, as you have rightly said, the committees that oversee them, with proposals where they think there are weaknesses or lacuna in existing legislation and propose improvements by way of amendments. That is so that, indeed, the committees are the ones which own those amendments when they come to the Floor of the House. That is the route to go. I think that is what was agreed in the last Leadership Retreat. Therefore, that is for all those many commissions. For instance, if it is the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), it is at liberty to approach the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning. If it is the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) or the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) and several others, they should approach the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. There are others which deal with matters to do with refugees. There are very many committees that would really help. It is only fair that many of those bodies and independent offices understand how Parliaments work. It looks like many of them assume that Parliament works only when people go for rallies over the weekends. They should just approach. Feel free. They can even write to the Clerk and the Clerk will forward their requests to the relevant committees. It has always worked. I have seen people in the health sector have always written and they have always been given a hearing by the Departmental Committee on Health and very many other committees anyway. It is only those bodies that need to appreciate that there is an opportunity and good avenue for their matters to be ventilated through the House. In any event, even when they bring those proposals, they will still be subjected to further public participation where more stakeholders will appear before the committees alongside themselves so that the mix or the blend of what comes out of that kind of engagement will only help us make better laws. Member for Seme, is it on this one or is it on tea?"
}