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{
    "id": 1375761,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1375761/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "support or strengthen the clause that indicates that they must pay fines from their personal funds. I like the proposal that they should then be cited in the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) if they do not pay yet they owe the Senate money so that this issue follows them in their other issues. As has happened and may happen, we need to think through the issue of how they will be arrested contemplating that we might not have police officers carrying out arrests. How do we deal with police officers who do not carry out arrests? In my view, we also need to create another offence. Any person obstructing the arrest of an officer who is in contempt of Parliament also commits an offence. Obstructing arrest of an officer who is in contempt of Parliament should include failure by any instructed police officer to, actually, arrest the person. We need to contemplate that there could be collusion by arresting officers who might not arrest. We should also contemplate that you might get some officers who use goons or other people to make the arrest impossible. Therefore, we should cite an offence against anybody who does that. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, even as we speak to this, we need to send the message to the public that the bigger picture is about getting all officers to behave or have the conduct expected of them because this country has laid down rules. Among those rules, it has set institutions that have particular mandates. For this country to run properly, those institutions must be allowed to carry out their mandate. When you do not turn up to explain why development in county “X” has not happened in the manner it was supposed to, or why the Auditor-General’s report has cited particular issues in county “Y”--- When you refuse to do so, you are denying the people of Kenya the knowledge they need in order to assess whether you are a good leader or not. The Constitution itself has contemplated that to do so, we must enforce the mandate of Parliament. Therefore, we should look at this as a law. In my view, a stiff penalty is only sending the message that we do not even want your money, but turning up and telling us why this or that has not happened or why this is happening in a manner it is. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am a member of some women groups and we have merry-go-rounds. One of the things we do is to put stiff penalties for ourselves, so that if we are supposed to pay Kshs20,000 each to Madam Eunice there who may have planned to use the amount from 20 of us to do something but Catherine fails to give out when she is supposed to, we will be undermining what Eunice was planning to do. We, in the women groups, fine ourselves heavily in order to keep in line. Once you have a group with rules in place, it is important that everybody respects them. This Parliamentary Powers and Privileges (Amendment) Bill has rules that tell us about everybody doing their job, which include turning up to explain why you have done certain things in a particular way. As I support this, I urge that we add all the amendments that Members have provided. That way, we will have a stronger Parliament, not just the Senate, but the National Assembly as well. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
}