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{
    "id": 1200181,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1200181/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 127,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Lastly, I want to indicate to all Members that every committee of this House is as important as any other. Being a Member of Parliament, you have the opportunity to attend any committee that you want to. Nobody can stop you. For instance, if you are a Member of the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, nobody will stop you from attending the meeting of another committee. In line with our Standing Orders, you just need to notify the Chair in advance. If you want to attend meetings of the Budget and Appropriations Committee or the Departmental Committee on Energy, nobody will stop you. If you have an interest, for instance, in water and irrigation… I have seen that most of the Members have requested to be in the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, Budget and Appropriations Committee, Departmental Committee on Blue Economy and Irrigation, Departmental Committee on Health, Departmental Committee on Energy and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Nothing precludes you from attending those committees. When Hon. Opiyo Wandayi was the Chair of the PAC, when many of us had a matter that we were interested in, we declared that interest and notified him. If a Cabinet Secretary will appear before the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure and you want to articulate issues that relate to your constituency, under our Standing Orders, you are allowed to appear before it with just a simple notice to the Chair. Therefore, let us not have very intransigent positions that you must be in this or that committee. We should appreciate that with the reduced numbers of committee membership after the changes in our Standing Orders, the Minority Party side in most committees will get only seven Members. Within those Members, they must accommodate all the political parties within the coalition and the Independent Members. Therefore, the numbers that we expect may not necessarily meet all our expectations. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg Members to quickly expedite this business of putting in place the Committee on Selection, so that by the time we come back from the short recess, without anticipating the afternoon business, we will have completed it. These Committee will have a lot of work. I hope by that time His Excellency the President will have nominated persons to serve as Principal Secretaries. This Committee will have its work cut out in the vetting of the Principal Secretaries. When we say that we want to balance the membership of the Committee, it is with the understanding that we also need both ranking and seasoned Members and new Members in those committees to learn what goes on. With those very many remarks, Hon. Deputy Speaker, and again with the indulgence of the Leader of Minority Party, I want to request the emeritus Leader of the Minority Party, Hon. John Mbadi, to second this Motion on behalf of the Leader of the Minority Party. I beg to move the Motion."
}