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{
    "id": 1112823,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1112823/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 309,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "Commission and go to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, even the appointees had challenges and we saw what happened within Parliament, the checks and balances were there. If you look at the appointees to the first Judicial Service Commission under the new Constitution, the appointments were balanced, robust and exercised independence. What happened when we came to office in 2013? We now had a situation where you have an executive that is homogenous in nature and desirous to control power in every arm of Government. Between 2013 and 2017 and this is a fact, we fought on the Floor of this House to defend devolution because it was under serious attack. It was not under serious attack because money was being allocated to counties. This was not the issue, the issue was the old order the old Presidency was fighting back by trying to return powers that had been donated by the Constitution to devolved units because county governments as a second level of Government is part of checks and balances of reducing presidential powers. We wedged that fight and it started with the Division of Revenue Bill that ended up going to courts who made a determination through an advisory opinion and then you saw the role of the Senate and the negotiations that ensued from there onwards. Even though I was on the Government side I am on record defending devolution and saying that we are under serious attack, similar to what the first President did in the beginning of federal Government in 1963, 1965 until 1969 when it was wound up. Governors at the moment are not the same because of this history. They do not behave like the first term governors; Isaac Ruto, Hon. Munya and Hon. Nanok to some extent. They are now playing to the tune of the national Executive. How? Because the National Executive have weaponised investigation. Even where the EACC started to play an independent role to some extent, you have realised that the National Executive bypassed the EACC and found the office of the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) who is a direct appointee of the President, friendly and easy to be used, to investigate acts of corruption that were intended to be exclusive jurisdiction of the EACC even though we know that the police and the DCI have a right to investigate all crimes. The intention of drafting and establishing the EACC in the Constitution, to have a specialised agency that can deal with grand corruption. If the executive succeeded without this law, to punish individuals, make them bow before the executive, make sure county governments cannot fight for resources to come to the county, make sure that there is no commissioner who is exercising independent authority for checks and balances on the executive. How worse will it be when you have a Bill that says, on mere suspicion that a public officer could be living a lifestyle that is not commensurate to his salary---. Out of estimation and suspicion, a lifestyle audit must be done. Look at the provisions of this law. Its working is going to create an environment where every citizen, who is a public officer will be a suspect. I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that if this Bill is to be passed, the first people to be targeted will be the Members of Parliament. We will have a situation where a lifestyle audit will be done on a Member of Parliament when he raises a serious issue."
}