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{
"id": 1371754,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1371754/?format=api",
"text_counter": 121,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
"slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
},
"content": "by Article One of the Constitution, on supremacy of the people of Kenya. That, Parliament has the powers to summon anyone to appear before it. This Bill is also guided by Article 125 of the Constitution that gives Parliament powers to summon any person. The key word is “any person” in the exercise of its oversight role. This Bill is also guided by Article 50 of the Constitution that talks about fair hearing of the witnesses that appear before Parliament. If I may go to the depth of the Bill, it seeks to amend Sections 19 and 33 of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, to provide a mechanism by which an order of arrest may be executed by Parliament itself. We have had scenarios where some witnesses summoned to appear before various Committees have decided not to appear. A case in point is the governors in the last Senate, who never appeared before parliamentary committees. Parliament issued summons that were ignored and the police could not enforce them. That puts Parliament in a very dangerous situation. That, yes, our Standing Orders provides for the summoning of witnesses, but we do not have the powers to arrest. So, if the Inspector General (IG)of Police refuses to arrest, what does Parliament do? Mr. Speaker, Sir, I remember, at some point, some Senators in the Third or Second Senate were forced to go to the office of the IG of police to find out what was happening. This is because, all the summons issued were not enforced by the police. Therefore, this Bill seeks to give Parliament the powers to arrest in a situation where the police are not able to do that for one reason or another. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Bill gives the IG of Police, who is also the Head of the National Police Service (NPS), the power to the specific provision to help in the arrest. It also goes ahead to say that a member of staff dully authorised by the Speaker or the Clerk can do that. I know that in the last Parliament, there was a proposal to amend the Parliamentary Service Act so that we can have a police unit in this House. However, that has not been implemented. In this case, this Bill will give us the option that in the event the IG of police is not able to enforce our summon through arrest, then we can do it ourselves, through the direction of the Speaker or the Clerk. This is important because, if you do not do that, we will reach a point where people will not come to our committees. We will issue summons and they will not come. They will collude with the police, and they will never come. That has happened before in this House. We will be a toothless House that cannot bite. So, this Bill gives us more teeth to follow the law, together with our Standing Orders, and arrest the people who do not appear. I know issues have been raised about what happens after we arrest them. I think that is an issue that can be looked at administratively by this House. However, it is very important that we have the power to arrest. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we usually charge those who fail to honor our summons a fine of Kshs500, 000. However, this Bill proposes that, that amount is too low we increase it to Kshs2 million. In the case of an individual who fails to appear before us, that money"
}