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{
    "id": 1223363,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1223363/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ugunja, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Opiyo Wandayi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I have just rushed in to make my voice heard on this critical issue. Let me start by thanking my friend, Hon. Chepkong’a, who is here looking at me. He has breathed new life into the Committee on Delegated Legislation. I am saying this from experience. Under the Statutory Instruments Act, it is quite clear that delegated legislation or regulations can only have the force of law once approved by this House. In the past, these characters would run around and make regulations and implement them without caring whether we approve them or not. I am happy that for the first time, this House is stamping its authority. Whether you are a cabinet secretary or a commission, if you intend to develop regulations that have the force of law, you must subject them to the approval process of the National Assembly. Secondly, on the matter of SRC, when some of us were in the trenches when this new Constitution was being birthed, it was never the intention to create another monster in the name of SRC. The idea of not allowing public officers and State officers, including parliamentarians, to determine their own benefits and remuneration is noble. When the Constitution was approved in the Referendum of 2010, it was never the intention of the drafters and that of Kenyans to create another monster in the process, who shall be loading over everybody. I am in full support of the decision of the Committee, chaired by my good friend, Hon. Chepkong’a, to reject the proposed regulations in totality. As much as the SRC was established under the Constitution, we must take into cognizance the fact that other commissions were equally created. In the same manner, the SRC was created, the Public Service Commission, the Parliamentary Service Commission and the Teachers Service Commission were also created with clear mandates. A reading of the Constitution does not show that the mandates of these independent commissions overlap each other in any way. It is only that the SRC have an insatiable appetite to encroach on territories which do not belong to them. By this House taking this decision, we shall be creating a sense of order and discipline as well as making it loud and clear to the SRC that they can be independent as they are envisaged in the Constitution. They must be made to understand that they report to this House. When all is said and done, the only authority that has oversight role over all the other commissions is the National Assembly. They do not report to anyone else – be it the President or whoever – but to this House. This House gives them their budgetary allocation, oversees how they spend it and can disband it. I am sure you know that. If anybody is doubting, they must be reminded that this House has got unfettered power to create and disband. However, we do not want to go there. We should let sanity reign. I want to plead with the current chairperson and the commissioners of the SRC to, please, come back to the ground. Climb down from your high pedestal, acclimatise yourselves, acquaint yourselves with your mandate as provided for under the Constitution and re-appraise yourselves of what you ought to be doing under the Constitution. Hon. Temporary Speaker, this tag of war of back and forth is totally unnecessary. If every other institutional agency would be operating in good faith, we would not have this kind 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."
}