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{
    "id": 1526128,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1526128/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 177,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "line with the proposals the Committee on Selection got from the representation of Independent Members. I engaged Hon. Ng’elechei and Hon. Karauri who lead the caucus of Independent Members. They submitted their list when they appeared before the Committee on Selection. As expected, every Member in this House wants to be a Member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, the Departmental Committee on Energy, the Departmental Committee on Education, or the Departmental Committee on Blue Economy and Irrigation. However, it is not practical. That is why what Hon. Junet says is true. The intent of the Constitution and our Standing Orders was to establish a Committee on Selections that would guide the House to settle Members in committees. If what Hon. Timothy Toroitich says is true or was to be true, what would happen if a particular grouping like Independent Members brought a list of 20 or 30 Members before the Committee on Selection expressing their desire to sit in the Budget and Appropriations Committee? Shall that Committee have only Independent Members? I think they are about 11 or 12. What if all of them wanted to sit in the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure? Would it mean that is the only Committee they will all sit in? The import of the Constitution and our Standing Orders was that there would be established a Committee on Selection. Like with all other businesses of the House, it would guide the House in settling matters through consensus. Where there is no consensus, a vote would decide which member sits in which Committee. By and large, I hear him disgruntle and complain from Hon. Timothy Toroitich about the committee into which the Committee on Selections has settled him. However, I encourage the Member for Marakwet West to focus more on serving the people of Marakwet West. Some Members have served in this House without being in any committee of the House. They have done exemplarily well in addressing matters that are of concern to the people that sent them to represent them in the Assembly, plenary, and constituencies. It will be otherwise if you focus on the disgruntlement of whether you sit in this or that committee. As I said yesterday, we may not satisfy everybody. It is not practical to satisfy the desires and needs of everybody as individuals. Let us use the opportunities that we are given to serve in whatever Committee we are relegated to. Whether it is the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure or even the very powerful Members' Welfare Committee. I said that I served in the Members' Welfare Committee in the last Parliament. I have never served in a more powerful Committee than that. The Committee oversights the Parliamentary Service Commission where the Speaker is the Chairman. Other than the Members' Welfare Committee, no other Committee of this House can oversight the Speaker. I am very proud of my time as a Member of the Members' Welfare Committee. Hon. Speaker, Bunge Tower progressed in the last two years of the last regime because we oversighted the Parliamentary Service Commission before you took over as Chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission. We worked to ensure that Members of Parliament enjoy good facilities by the time they join the 13th Assembly. I thank you, Hon. Speaker because you picked up from where the other commission left. I ask the Members joining the Members' Welfare Committee to keep the Speaker on his toes so that he can continue guiding the Parliamentary Service Commission to improve your welfare as Members of Parliament. That is why I say it is one of the most powerful committees of this House. I was just engaging with my brother, Hon. Nimrod Mbai, telling him that we crafted the Public Petitions Committee in the last Parliament. It is bound to be one of the best committees of this House. However, committees are as good as the leadership and the membership. It is up to you to make the best out of whichever committee you are put in and serve your constituents. 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."
}