GET /api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1513373/?format=api
HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1513373,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1513373/?format=api",
"text_counter": 424,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kibwezi West, MCCP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mwengi Mutuse",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I thank the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, and also the Chairperson of the Mediation Committee on the Conflict of Interest Bill, Hon. George Gitonga Murugara, soon to be Senior Counsel. As has been ably said by the Chairman as he has dealt on specifics, the House would remember that during the delivery of the State of the Nation Address by the President, the President challenged us, as Parliament, to fast-track the enactment of the Conflict of Interest Bill. He, in fact, wondered whether Members were conflicted in passing this Conflict of Interest Bill. Pursuant to that, we set in motion the Mediation Committee comprising of the National Assembly and the Senate. I thank our membership because in a record time, we have agreed. It was not very difficult to develop consensus because the issues that were under mediation and under conflict, were clear-cut. As has been said by the Chairman, to a large extent, the mediated version of this Bill reflects what had been passed by the National Assembly. Therefore, the National Assembly should not have difficulty in agreeing with the mediated version that we have tabled before the House. For the benefit of the Members, on a foundational level, two issues were fundamentally the cause of the problem. Number one, was whether the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) ought to have a role in the management of conflict of interest, or that should be exclusively left to the reporting authorities. The Chairman has explained what reporting authorities under the Act are. It was the view of the National Assembly that that should be a shared role between the reporting authority and the EACC; and that the EACC should have the ultimate mandate on management of conflict of interest. This is because they are a Chapter 15 Commission that is created by the people of Kenya for the purposes of ensuring integrity and the fight against corruption. The Senate initially felt that the EACC should not have a role. But when we sat together, we convinced them that in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution, the EACC ought to have a great role. Emanating from that, the next issue was whether we need to bring all the laws in terms of the conflict of interest under one Act. The Senate initially was of the view that we should not repeal the Public Officers and Ethics Act. We, however, convinced them that it is much better to have all the laws under one umbrella, which is the Conflict of Interest Bill. The 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."
}