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{
    "id": 1337742,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1337742/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 236,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Uasin Gishu County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gladys Boss",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "take effect if we did not act. So, by omitting the National Assembly, ministers would become more powerful than Parliament. I can give you examples of what happened. I can still remember that the regulations banning shisha were passed while we were on Christmas recess. By the time we came back in January after the recess, they had taken effect. However, at that time, they were not being done for the good of getting rid of a harmful product from the market. We were going for Christmas holidays and they wanted to boost the sales of cigarette companies and certain alcohol companies. So, they were serving private interests and not public interests. Another example that I can give of regulations that were done to serve private interests was the ban of the one-use plastic bags in supermarkets. Many people did not notice it. The mischief was that they did it while we were on recess and they published the burning of those plastics bags which, on the face of it, was a good thing. The story behind it was that their friends had already bought alternative bags that were waiting at the port. We should ask ourselves as Kenyans, how come when the plastic bags were banned the following day supermarkets had new types of carrier bags. The reason is that it was business. In fact, I want to ask Hon. Chepkonga - as the sitting Chairperson of the Committee on Delegated Legislation - to continue interrogating the Statutory Instruments Act and not to get tired of bringing amendments to this House as and when he discovers a new mischief and a new loophole in the Act. Another example is of the mischievous Chairperson of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Ms. Lyn Mengich. She waited until when Members of Parliament had gone for recess for elections to publish something in the Kenya Gazette. At that time, Members of Parliament had no power to come back to the House to interrogate what she had done. That must stop. Let us send a very clear message to Cabinet secretaries and State corporations that we are watching - that, Parliament will not allow that to happen. I know we used to be called the ‘committee of annulment’ because the only time the committee brought a report to the House was when it was annulling some regulations. The law required us to come to the House when we annulled some regulations. Actually, we approved 70 per cent of the regulations. However, the 30 per cent that were to be annulled had to be brought to the House for that decision to be taken. I am glad that under the Statutory Instruments (Amendment) Bill, the Committee on Delegated Legislation will have to bring a report to this House every three months on the pieces of regulations that it has approved. Last is the issue of public participation. I know we brought amendments and began to define what public participation is. Is public participation calling a few of your friends and like- minded people to sit in a room and sign a piece of paper and then you tell the Committee on Delegated Legislation that you have conducted public participation? Public participation must involve relevant stakeholders; not everybody in the world, but relevant stakeholders. We saw the mischief that was there recently with the regulations on the education sector where publications were being made from the Ministry. It is common sense that if the cabinet secretary published regulations that touch on the education sector, then the Departmental Committee on Education and Research is a relevant stakeholder. They must be invited as part of public participation. After all, they are the ones who approve money to that particular entity. Lastly, I know there had been a suggestion for an amendment. Hon. Chepkonga has told me that he is willing to make an amendment stating that where a law has been nullified, it should be published in the newspapers to notify members of the public. We are aware that the official communication and publication for Government is the Kenya Gazette. This can also be a money-making scheme for the rogue newspapers that we already have. We will also be spending a lot of unavailable Government resources. With those few remarks, I support."
}