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{
    "id": 1087125,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1087125/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 144,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 366,
        "legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
        "slug": "amos-wako"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to speak on this Amendment. Let me first congratulate Sen. (Dr.) Zani for bringing this Amendment. In a sense, it is a pity that we had to come up with this Amendment, because in any democratic and institutional society, public officers are supposed to act on these issues without being forced. It should be part of fair administration and constitutionalism for a public officer to act in good faith on the resolutions passed by Parliament. There is really no need to go into the details that they will suffer a penalty for committing an offence. That is why as I congratulate Sen. (Dr.) Zani, I am also sad that we have come to this stage. These are matters which ought not to have come to this stage. We ought not to have come to a stage where the resolutions of Parliament are ignored to an extent where Parliament has to come up with an Implementation Committee to follow up on the various resolutions of the House and see how far they have been implemented. That is sad, and even with that, nothing happens. It takes a stick, like Sen. (Dr.) Zani has come up with, to say if you do not do this, you are committing an offence and will be liable to either a fine or a penalty of imprisonment. Madam Deputy Speaker, I do support this. As I support it, let me just hope that there will be some clarification. I take what Sen. Cheruiyot said about resolutions of the House, but not all resolutions of the House are there for implementation. They are recommendations for the Executive to consider whether or not to implement, and if to implement, how to implement them. That distinction has not been made here. There are some resolutions which are mandatory and must be obeyed. For example, if the Constitution says that a particular officer can only be appointed on approval of the House, and by resolution, the House either approves or does not approve them, that must be obeyed. However, even there, we have seen cases where approval has not been given but persons have nevertheless been appointed. That is a clear case where a resolution must be obeyed, but there could be a resolution that is just a recommendation. Even though it is just a recommendation, a resolution of the House must be taken seriously because according to the Constitution, we are the voice of the people, who are sovereign. Therefore, if we pass a resolution, it shows that it is a serious matter, which must be seriously considered. In most of the cases, they should be implemented, although there is a narrow window that in an appropriate case, a directive is not implemented. When we are in the Committee of the Whole Stage, I think part of the response of the public officer is not what steps he has taken to implement the action, but that this is a resolution that the Government cannot implement at the moment. What we require is a response. They just keep quiet and nobody knows what is happening. We are ignored and yet we are a House representing the people. This is the mischief that Sen. (Dr.) Zani want to stop through this Bill. I support it and I hope with that slight nuance in the Committee you will come up with some amendment. That the response can very well be that at this point in time, the Government is not in a position, but can implement the resolution at another time. That is other than just keeping quiet and the Chairpersons of the Committees chasing up accounting officers and nothing is happening and we just waste time. We are like a House which is rudderless, powerless and toothless. Madam Deputy Speaker, with those few remarks, I support. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}