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{
    "id": 1514420,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1514420/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 121,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. Unfortunately, it is the Leader of the Minority Party and the Deputy Leader of the Broad- Based Government, Hon. Junet Mohamed. The SRC started on a false note at its inception after the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. I hope and pray that this new Commission and the seven commissioners will work in consultation with the other arms of Government and not in competition with them, especially the Judiciary, the Legislature and even other players in the Executive. I believe that being a new Commission; they will work in a consultative manner. We previously had a very populist Commission. I want to encourage the new commissioners not to fall into the trap of playing to the gallery. During the Gen Z protests mid last year, the former Commission published a gazette notice stating that they were increasing the pay of Members of Parliament by some Ksh7,000 or Ksh9,000. That was just the normal increment that happens every two years. However, the timing and the gazettement of that gazette notice was very suspect. Their intention was to play populist politics, play to the gallery and to poison Kenyans against Members of Parliament. Members of Parliament do a lot of work both inside and outside the House. Nobody should demonise them on account of their work. The 349 Members of Parliament and 65 Senators are elected out of 52 million Kenyans to serve the nation and also deserve to be paid. Therefore, the SRC must be cognisant of the fact that they should work to balance public interests and not to demonise people in other institutions. I have had an occasion to engage with members of the Judiciary and they have suffered the same fate as Members of Parliament. In fact, I remember that at one point, somebody in the Judiciary, who I will not name, asked me to just disband the Commission. I am sure that if it was disbanded, many people in the Judiciary would be happy. We want the Commission to stay because we want a balance in how we conduct our public affairs, especially in matters to do with personnel management and remuneration of public officers. However, that must be done in a measured way, balancing our resources with the needs of public service officers who serve the people of Kenya. If we do not balance the needs of public servants, we will not only kill the aspirations of young people who are joining the public service, but we will also make it impossible for those who are already in the public service to grow as persons. As the new commissioners come into office, I want to ask them to engage other stakeholders. I am told by the Chairperson of the Committee that as they engaged with all the individual nominees during the vetting process, the nominees committed to work in a consultative manner and engage stakeholders. They will make decisions through a consultative process. I congratulate them and support their approval. I, therefore, beg to support the Motion."
}