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{
    "id": 1416651,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1416651/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 305,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "On the provision dealing with the Office of the National Security Adviser, in modern democracies the world over, an advisor to a president ordinarily works at the pleasure of the president. Therefore, that cannot be legislated. We should let the adviser work as it has been. The most damaging amendment to this Bill is the creation of Office of the Head of the Public Service. If you look at the duties that he has been assigned in the Bill, you will see that one of them is to be the administrative head of the Executive Office of the President. That office is not provided for in the Constitution. The decisions of the President, as contemplated in Article 135 of the Constitution, are supposed to be in writing and shall bear the seal and signature of the President. That is so instructive and the people of Kenya should not lose sight of it. At no time was it contemplated that somebody else will write and sign any document with a decision of the President in the performance of any of his functions on behalf of the President. Article 135 is very clear on the signature on the decisions of the President. All along, it has been an anomaly whenever pronouncements that touch on the core mandate of the office of the President have been signed by other persons other than the President. If, indeed, the Head of the Public Service shall serve at the pleasure of the President as indicated in the Bill, then it cannot be a state office as defined in Article 260 of the Constitution. The Head of the Public Service will become an errand boy of the President. He will serve at the President’s pleasure. Any incoming administration ought to have a different style of executing its mandate and running its government. Saddling it with an office created by an Act of Parliament that is unconstitutional is essentially tying its hands. A new administration would want to do things in a completely different manner. How can a sponsor of a Bill of this magnitude indicate that the Head of the Public Service will be the custodian of the Public Seal and any other instruments of the state that are not in the custody of any other person? That is where the mischief lies. What mischief do they want to do? The Office of the President may auction this country if it has the Public Seal and the President’s signature. It will enter into any business without referring to any other party. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}