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{
    "id": 1089690,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1089690/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 275,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Milgo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13174,
        "legal_name": "Milgo Alice Chepkorir",
        "slug": "milgo-alice-chepkorir"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me this chance to support this Bill. I thank the Committee on Finance and Budget, led by the able Chairperson, Sen. Kibiru, for coming up with this amendment which is short but critical. It is an amendment to Section 7 and 9 of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Act, 2011. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the SRC is one of the many semi-automatous commissions that plays a critical role in the country. It falls into the same category with the Teacher Service Commission (TSC), the Public Service Commission (PSC), Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and others which are critical. In fact, this Committee identified the gap which existed in this Act. The SRC came into place to assist this country. Before I came to Parliament, I remember that parliamentarians used to add their own salaries at will. It was unfortunate. I know it is interesting to have high salaries but it is important to have some kind of checks. There was an oversight earlier on when this particular Act came into play. This is because there was no notification to know the expiry term of commissioners. In such a case, some rogue commissioners would continue to be in office for years on end. In addition to that, there were no timelines on retirement, filling of vacancies or retiring. The first chairperson of SRC, Ms. Sarah Serem, was painted black and blue all the time. However, she was a strong woman. She stood her ground and now SRC is a strong body. I am sure this amendment will go a long way to strengthen its job so that it is refined. If you go to any area lately, jobs are fully evaluated. I remember a case of one housewife who was married for over 15 years. She went to court after she was chased away by her husband and the court used evaluation from the SRC to pay what is accrued to her for the 15 years. Therefore, the SRC should continue to evaluate all the various jobs. We were excited to see that housewives are now evaluated just like any other job. This is because the SRC is setting aside equal pay for equal job done. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Section 7 states that within 14 days when a vacancy arises, there should be a mode of advertising. It goes all the way up to number three to say within the 14 days when a vacancy arises, there must be an advert. It has gone on to specify where the advert will be placed, that is, in the newspaper. By so doing, it will ensure that there will be no corruption when it comes to filling the vacancies because it will be displayed for all to see. This particular amendment has also specified how many days the National Assembly will have to take to scrutinize those that have been interviewed before forwarding the names to the President for appointment."
}