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{
    "id": 1265189,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1265189/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Alego Usonga, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Samuel Atandi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to oppose this Motion for the following reasons: one, I have read this Report from the first page to the last one, and whereas the Committee attempts to reject the nomination of Dr Phyllis Wambui by virtue of age, the Committee has failed to censure the Public Service Commission, which has done the blunder of forwarding this name to the President for nomination. Hon. Temporary Speaker, this Report outlines the process which was used to arrive at the name of this nominee. The process started with the advertisement to fill this position. About 261 Kenyans applied for this position and out of those applications, only two nominees were identified. The first nominee was Dr Phyllis Wambui Wagacha and the second one was Mr Japhter Kiplimo Rugut. Hon. Temporary Speaker, for PSC to forward this name to Parliament knowing very well the nominee does not meet the requirements for appointment means that we must censure the PSC. We have seen the PSC making various recommendations and forwarding to this House, but we have never assessed its performance. Hon. Temporary Speaker, this is a Commission which exists to support political actions. This Commission is not competent and professional and does not look at various factors before forwarding the names of nominees to this House. Last time, the PSC approved the appointment of the so called Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs). The court has rejected their appointment and this House has done nothing, including even writing to invite the PSC to come to answer. Therefore, my view is that as a country, we cannot condemn people because of age. We know that there are many people who are aged, but are still very productive. Hon. Temporary Speaker, if you go to some countries in the West, there are people in their 90s who are still very productive. Mr. Joseph Kinyua, the former Head of Civil Service is active and is still being appointed. This House should not be used to condemn innocent Kenyans because of age. I want to disagree with my colleagues who have submitted that this lady does not meet the qualification for this appointment because of age. If you read this Report, the Committee says that Dr Wagacha met all the criteria that was set out, including competence, ability and education. When it comes to age, we are saying that because she is 75, she cannot even sing in church. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I want to disagree. Most Kenyans even go to school after their retirement. By the way, after I leave Parliament, I will go back to school and I will expect this country to give me an opportunity to serve after I have increased my level of education. I want to say that I do not agree with the reason that has been submitted here for rejection of Dr Wagacha. I want this House to support the appointment of Dr Wagacha to serve in this position. In any case, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission is not a running competition. The job does not need you to go there to run or play football. This is a job where you are supposed to use your intellect. This lady has gathered a lot of knowledge in her career that is spanning over many years. Therefore, it is not right to say that she is old and cannot perform and to be a commissioner of the SRC you need to be running every morning for five hours or go to the gym to lift weights. That is not the description of this position. Therefore, I want to plead with this House that we must support this lady to be given this job. This is because I know what the politicians are trying to do. They want us to reject this nominee so that the next person to be appointed is Mr Rugut. That is the intention of this appointment. Once you reject this nominee, the next person to be appointed will be Mr Rugut because the PSC had forwarded two names to the President; Dr Wagacha and Mr Rugut. So, Hon. Chepkong’a wants…"
}