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{
    "id": 1120625,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1120625/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 74,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "“Parliament or its Committees may invite or summon any person to appear before it for the purpose of giving evidence or providing any information, paper, book, record or document in the position or under the control of that person. In this respect, Parliament and its Committees shall have the same powers as the High Court as specified in Article 125 of the Constitution.” Mr. Speaker, Sir, this power under the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act is so important because it is a derivative of the Constitution. They flow from the Constitution itself. Section 19 deals with the procedure of when witnesses fail to appear. In this regard, the law tells us that if witnesses fail to appear, we are not a toothless bulldog. We are given these powers. It says- “Where a witness summoned does not appear or appears, but fails to satisfy the relevant House of Parliament or Committee, the relevant House or Committee may impose upon the witness a fine not exceeding Kshs500,000 and having regard to the witnesses’ condition in life and all the circumstances in the case.” We are not talking about an ordinary mortal. The circumstances in this case is a Cabinet Secretary (CS) who has taken oath and has a public office. In the exercise of that public office, the law requires that they appear. For interest, there is another very important Section in the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, which I think we should always bear in mind. It talks about public officers. It says- “No public officer shall refuse to produce before Parliament or its Committees any paper, book, record, document or give evidence before Parliament or a Committee relating to the correspondence of any national security organ.” Mr. Speaker, Sir, even when it concerns national security, which would be the best excuse for any CS to give, this Act says that you cannot use national security as a basis of refusing to produce a document, give evidence or to appear. I think that this is very important in terms of giving context to this matter. We have these powers, not made by us, because they flow from this Constitution. They have a purpose. I want to share with you and hope you will agree with me that for CSs to appear before Parliament, it serves a constitutional purpose as set out in Article 10 of the Constitution. For purposes of transparency, good governance, accountability and public participation when decisions are made, the people are the sovereign. When we require members of the Government to appear before us, we do so on behalf of the people. That flows from Article 1 (1) of the Constitution. There is a constitutional purpose and objective. It is not just a law made out of context; it is a law that serves a constitutional purpose. Hon. Senators, my brothers and sisters, this is a matter which we have to comment on forcefully for purposes of not just this Senate, but for future Parliaments. People are crying out there about rising fuel and electricity costs. They want to know why from those who have been given the responsibility."
}