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{
    "id": 1407175,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407175/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 99,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ugunja, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Opiyo Wandayi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. From the outset, I will go straight to the point and declare that I support the Motion. I thank Hon. Jack Wamboka, the initiator of the Motion, most profusely. Hon. Jack Wamboka, history will be very kind to you. In the fullness of time, you will for sure have something when the history of this Parliament or this country is written. If not a paragraph or a sentence, you will have at least a footnote for what you have done for the country today. Let me say that I am more than convinced that the Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Mithika Linturi, has fallen short of the requirements of the Constitution as a holder of a public office. That is after listening keenly to the submission by Hon. Wamboka and having scrutinised into detail the documents, the annexures and so on and so forth that have been presented. Indeed, the Hon. Jack Wamboka has clearly drawn a linkage between the conduct of Hon. Mithika Linturi and the grounds outlined under Article 152(4)(a). In Article 152(6) states the three grounds upon which a Cabinet Secretary may be subjected to a Motion such as this one. I will not belabour the point. Let me start by saying that the conduct of the Cabinet Secretary captured and depicted in the submission by Hon. Wamboka and in the documents attached to the Motion clearly point him going against the national values and principles of governance as stipulated under Article 10(2)(c). The national values and principles of governance include good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability, among other things. A person holding the office of a Cabinet Secretary is not a small person. Article 152 of the Constitution provides for the Cabinet and we all know the composition of the Cabinet. Under Article 152, a Cabinet Secretary is a member of Cabinet. Under Article 152(4)(a), the Constitution goes further to say that each person appointed as a Cabinet Secretary assumes office by swearing or affirming faithfulness to the people and the Republic of Kenya, obedience to the Constitution, and so on. Article 153(2) goes further to state that Cabinet Secretaries are accountable to the President for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions individually and collectively. Why am I saying this? An impeachment Motion such as this one is indeed a tool of last resort all over the world. In all mature democracies, Parliament such as this one resort to impeachment Motions and processes as an action of last resort. The Constitution provides for avenues through which a Cabinet Secretary can vacate office. One of them is through dismissal by the appointing authority. Another one is by resignation. The third one is through this process of impeachment. The appointing authority and Hon. Linturi could have saved the time of this House and the country by doing what is necessary. Hon. Linturi should have voluntarily resigned by now. Failure to do so, the appointing authority who is the President of the Republic of Kenya should have taken the most logical action and fired him. Therefore, this House has a duty under the Constitution since both Linturi and the President have failed to do what the Constitution requires them—to take the action it is currently contemplating, sending this Cabinet Secretary home. I have looked at the issues raised. It sounds like something from Hollywood. You may think that you are watching a movie. A whole Cabinet Secretary storms the premises of a private company, Kel Chemicals Limited, and direct or in fact attempt to frog-match the"
}