Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1416652,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1416652/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 306,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The Bill before us seeks to create the non-existent Office of Chief Administrative Secretary. If you go through the duties assigned to the Chief Administrative Secretary, you will appreciate that they do not exist in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. The Constitution describes the Executive as consisting of the President, the Deputy President, the Attorney-General, and the cabinet secretaries. The accounting officer is the Principal Secretary. The question that all of us beg to ask is: Where does the Chief Administrative Secretary fall in the architecture of the Executive? He is not listed under Article 260 of the Constitution as a state officer. What is it? Any office created in the Public Service is for a specific function. Whenever we enact laws, we state that there will be ‘X’ officers and they will become officers in the public service. The Constitution of Kenya is clear on what constitutes the Public Service. One of the functions assigned to this office is liaising with Parliament. The Chief Administrative Secretary will liaise with Parliament as who? The duty to report to Parliament is vested in the constitutional offices. The President, cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries and holders of constitutional offices are the ones who are supposed to do that. So, how does ‘liaising with Parliament’ come in when this is not a constitutional office? Another function being assigned to the new proposed office is liaising with the county governments on matters of concurrent mandate. There are organs created in the Constitution and in the County Government Act to deal with those functions. What are we doing here? Another function is representing the Cabinet Secretary at any meeting directed by the Cabinet Secretary. As Dr Nyikal indicated previously, we are creating an office of an assistant minister yet in the Constitution there is no office that has been assigned to act as an assistant office to the Office of Cabinet Secretary. That is not provided for in the Constitution. Why are we trying to amend the Constitution through this legislation, which is obviously a wrong process? Article 259 of the Constitution calls for the Constitution to be interpreted in a manner that advances good governance. This Bill falls flat on account of that provision of the Constitution. I urge the Speaker to apply himself on this fact and ask the promoter of this Bill to drop it and draft it afresh to meet the constitutional requirements, and then bring it back for debate. Living it the way it is, considering the way we operate in a guillotine manner, all the amendments will be defeated and the Bill will pass as it is, and it will be an unconstitutional law. Its cure cannot be found. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}