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"id": 1122436,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1122436/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
"speaker": {
"id": 49,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
"slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
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"content": "excusing themselves because they will say that that is not an issue within their mandate. It is not a thing that we want to continue for long. The Committee, in its interaction with the three commissions, noted that despite the three commissions having related functions, they also have separate offices. These offices are in different geographical locations within Nairobi, and when you go to the counties, they are also located in different places within the counties, which requires the person with the complaint to move from one location to the other. Therefore, the Committee was of the view that the functions of the NGEC and those of the KNCHR would be more effectively performed by a single streamlined commission. That is the necessity to merge the functions of the two commissions under reference, namely, the NGEC and the KNCHR. The Bill, under Sections 2 and 3 of the KNCHR Act No.14 of 2011, seeks to rename the commission to establish, after a merger, a commission to be called the Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission. The Bill further amends Section 8 of the KNCHR Act to bring under the functions of the new commission the roles that had been given to NGEC under the Act of 2011, among them the role of promoting gender equality and freedom from discrimination and dealing with affirmative action policies. The Bill also seeks to give the new commission established after the merger the authority to take over complaints already logged under NGEC and to be bound by the legal rights and obligations subsisting before the merger of the two commissions to take over the functions, assets and liabilities, rights, powers and duties of the NGEC. On the existing commissioners of NGEC, they will be absorbed in the new commission in the same terms for the unexpired term of their contract. The Committee also intends to introduce an amendment so that the Chairperson of the NGEC becomes the first vice-chairperson of the new Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission for their unexpired term, while the officers employed by the NGEC to be re-designated by the Public Service Commission on the same terms of service. Finally, the Bill, through the introduction of a New Section 61, seeks to repeal the NGEC Act No.15 of 2011. The Committee also received and considered the report of the Auditor-General on the socio-economic audit of the Constitution that was done during the 11th Parliament. In the interaction with the various stakeholders on constitutional implementation from the report on the socio-economic audit of the Constitution, the Committee observed that there was duplication of functions by some constitutional commissions resulting to unnecessary expenditure of public resources which could better be utilised by merging some of the functions. What this seems to state is that under the report that was done by the Auditor-General on the socio-economic audit of our 2010 Constitution, that duplication and the unnecessary expense was highlighted and the need to merge some of these commissions was also one of their recommendations. In line to the Constitution and the Standing Orders, the Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee, in the local daily newspapers of 5th June, 2020, invited the public to make written submissions on the Bill. The Committee also invited certain specific institutional stakeholders it considered important in the implementation of the Bill to send written submissions and appear and make all clarifications. The Committee received various responses from the KNCHR, the NGEC and the CAJ. There was memorandum from the National Treasury and Planning, the Kenya Law Reform Commission, the Office of the Attorney-General and the Department of Justice. We also received memorandums from Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices, the National Council of Persons with Disability, the Civil Society Organisation Network, the Political Parties Liaison Committee, the Association of Older Persons Organisations, the Office of the Registrar of Political The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}