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{
    "id": 1066011,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1066011/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 231,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kindiki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1046,
        "legal_name": "Kithure Kindiki",
        "slug": "kithure-kindiki"
    },
    "content": "ask people around this country on what is so fundamentally life changing in this Bill to make us pass it by all means possible before the next election in the midst of a pandemic, you will get blank stares. Nobody will tell you the reason BBI is so urgent, and that includes its top proponents. Our Constitution will endure if every citizen is determined to exercise his or her duty set out in Article 3(1) to defend the Constitution. Therefore, I stand here today in defence of our Constitution as a patriotic Kenyan. It appears to me that the real intent of these proposals is to expand the positions of power at the extent of citizens and to negotiate post-regime political deals. I respectively submit that the attempt to water down one of the best constitutions in the world is not only illegal, but also null and void. It is my strong view that this is neither a parliamentary initiative nor a popular initiative. Those are the only two approaches by which a constitutional amendment can be initiated. It is neither of them. Instead, it is a legal hermaphrodite unknown to our Constitution, having been initiated by the Executive with the unfortunate support of the Opposition. The people were roped in at the very end, in a desperate attempt to sanitize an illegal process. Madam Speaker, this Bill aims at removing what the Executive considers as the inconveniences of the 2010 Constitution on the limits of the powers of the Executive. The implementation of these proposals will lead to higher taxes to cater for a larger Parliament and Executive. The potential of our Parliament is going to be 640 Members of the National Assembly and Senate theoretically. This Bill is surprisingly silent on how to tame the fundamental problem of a high public wage bill in our country. How will I support a Bill that interferes with the independence of the Judiciary by introducing an ombudsman nominated by the Executive, vetted by Parliament to spy on Judges, intimidate and harass them, and claw back on the independence of the judicial arm of the State? The Judicial Service Commission must always remain with a majority of commissioners coming from the Judiciary and not other arms of Government if we are to retain the independence of the Judiciary. Madam Deputy Speaker, my conscience will not allow me to support a Bill that claws back on the democratization of the police by undermining police reforms that were aimed at transforming our police from a force to a service. I cannot countenance an amendment of this Constitution to neutralize the powers of the National Police Service Commission and concentrate those powers on the person of the Inspector-General of Police. How does a right-thinking Kenyan lawyer of my stature support a constitutional amendment that removes the rightful role of trade unions, Parliament, through the Parliamentary Service Commission, and the civil servants through Public Service Commission, their right to nominate commissioners of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission? There is zero mention or no attempt to deal with the question of the public debt, which is crippling this country. This country is on the verge of being wound up and"
}