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{
    "id": 1063876,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1063876/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 243,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I was referring to Clause 44 of this Bill with regard to the Office of the Judiciary Ombudsman. One of the duties of the Ombudsman is to recommend the actions that will be taken by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). Let us not reduce this to a technical thing that can be plucked out of the moon. What do you mean when you say somebody will recommend an action? It means that the hands of the JSC are tied. If you are told to sack a judge, you will sack him or her. There is nothing else left for you to do even if you pick an independent JSC. Therefore, the Office of the Judiciary Ombudsman as presently created is a threat to the independence of our Judiciary. What makes it even more tragic is the fact that this Ombudsman will be nominated by the President. Part of the reason we are still surviving as a Republic is because of the actions of our Judiciary, especially in the last two or three years when we have not had a functional opposition in the country. The institution that has kept the interests and rights of Kenyans to be considered is the Judiciary. Imagine if a judge is presented by somebody whose rights have been violated by the State and they know that there is a gentleman or lady known as the Office of the Ombudsman appointed by the President, who is only awaiting for him to rule against the decision of the Executive. Will that judge have the free reign to make a decision that will protect our rights? My dear brothers and sisters who sit in Parliament, do not give Kenyans poison when you have the chance and opportunity to stop it from happening. Some of them may be ignorant, they may not have the power to understand some of these things, but they have given you a responsibility. That is why you held a Quran or a Bible and averred to defend and protect this Constitution. Part of defending a Constitution is keeping it alive and ensuring that it is not tampered with in the way that it is being presently proposed before us. Do not allow your citizens, the people who woke up early in the morning to vote for us, to be in a situation where they will not have a free reigning Judiciary. Madam Temporary Speaker, in the existence of a State, and all scholars that have taken time to study how a State functions agree; this state of tension between Parliament"
}