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{
    "id": 1334475,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1334475/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 388,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "There are many other laws which are proposed to be amended. I also wish to point out that we have the Office of the Attorney-General Act No.49 of 2012 in which there is a proposal to delete a reference to the Public Service Commission. What we are trying to do here is to de- link the Office of the Attorney-General from the Public Service Commission, not so much because of the argument that is given here that, that Office is independent but purely to ensure that this Office is cushioned and protected from the other Government agencies. The Office of the Attorney-General has become a training ground for advocates. Advocates are taken in as pupils or interns, they are properly trained and soon after that they are raided by institutions like the Parliamentary Service Commission, ODPP, EACC, the courts and everybody else. That is where they draw their advocates. They go in and poach the lawyers and what remains of the Office of the Attorney-General is a shell. It is notable to defend cases in court. Those who are left are very young advocates who cannot beat seasoned lawyers out there. The idea, if this is going to help, is to give the Attorney-General the power to recruit and retain advocates on his own terms. The Public Service Commission has vehemently opposed this. One of the grounds is that the Office of the Attorney-General is not an independent office, and I agree. Even the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is not an independent office. The ODPP operates independently, that is what the Constitution says. It does not list that Office as an independent office. To make it work independently or to make it work without interference from anyone, the office of the DPP has a board that runs the affairs of the office. The Law Society of Kenya has proposed that we create a board for the Office of the Attorney-General that is going to run the affairs of that office so as not to make the Attorney- General an autocratic person who runs the office singlehandedly. That is possibly a further amendment we have to consider in respect of that particular Act when we go to the Third Reading of the Bill. There is then the litany of many other Acts that are being amended in a miscellaneous format. What we wish to point out here is that as we amend these laws in a miscellaneous statute, we must be cautious of the fact that anyone who goes to court may try to argue that we have made substantive amendments. It is my considered view and that of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs that we can actually effect these amendments through this miscellaneous Bill and when they are read a Third Time, we will be looking at what the public has told us about the various proposed amendments. This is why it becomes extremely important for the Members of this House to obtain the reports, go through them, hear what the public has said and then we can look at all these in entirety when it comes to the Third Reading of the Bill. With those remarks, I confirm I support the Bill."
}