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{
    "id": 127966,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/127966/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 350,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "(a) investigate, inquire into, and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management, activities, administration, operations and estimates of the assigned Ministries and departments; (b) study the programme and policy objectives of Ministries and departments and the effectiveness of the implementation; (c) study and review all legislation referred to it; (d) Study, assess and analyse the relative success of the Ministries and departments as measured by the results obtained as compared with their stated objectives; (e) investigate and inquire into all matters relating to the assigned Ministries and departments as they may deem necessary, and as may be referred to them by the House or a Minister; and (f) make reports and recommendations to the House as often as possible, including recommendations on proposed legislation. Hon. Members, through the Committee system, the House has established an elaborate system for interrogating the exercise of Executive powers. Further, our Constitution and our Standing Orders avail to this House adequate instruments by which the House is enabled to ensure that the actions of the Executive remain in consonance with the very law that this House has enacted and seeks to protect. Hon. Members, the matter at hand has raised considerable interest, not only in this House, but in the entire country as well. Important questions have been raised about the legitimate interplay between the Executive, the Legislature and to some extent the Judiciary in the exercise of certain powers. These are important constitutional questions and the country looks to this House to provide leadership in the matter. The mandate of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs is set out in the Second Schedule of the Standing Orders as covering the subjects of: “Constitutional affairs, the administration of law and justice, public prosecutions, elections, ethics, integrity and anti-corruption and human rights”. These are wide mandates and it is difficult to argue that the matter in issue does not concern “constitutional affairs” or “the administration of law and justice” or “integrity and anti-corruption.” On the other hand, the mandate of the Committee on Delegated Legislation is established under Standing Order No.197 and entrusted with the mandate to ensure that statutory instruments are laid before the House as may be provided under any written law and to scrutinize such instruments to ensure that they are consistent with parent statutes. The committee is further entrusted with the mandate of recommending that the House resolves that any particular subsidiary legislation be annulled. Again, it will be a strenuous argument to make that the matter concerning the re-appointment of the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) is entirely outside the conceivable mandate of this committee. Hon. Members, the mandate of committees need not be exclusive. All committees work for this House and for the country at large. Numerous precedents exist in which two or more committees have jointly undertaken inquiries into a matter. It is not, therefore, necessary for the Chair to rule that this matter be exclusively handled by one or other committee. It is clear that it is legitimate for both the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs and the Committee on Delegated Legislation, and possibly more committees, to inquire into the matter. Hon. Members at the Bar may walk in."
}