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{
    "id": 1551981,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1551981/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 764,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker I was saying the committee should have gone further because if you look at the total pending bills for Nairobi, which stand over Kshs100 billion, Kshs20 billion is pending bills owed to advocates. I can say here without fear or favour that although I am an advocate myself, lawyers in this country have abused this legal fee system in our counties to siphon money from county governments and from the people of the country and especially the people of Nairobi. It is unconscionable because when the committee says that the bill should be charged according to the remuneration order, the remuneration order says you use the value of the property to calculate your fees. If a matter involves land of half an acre or 300 acres though the value of land varies, the issues involved in that particular legal case are not different. It is the same law and the same dispute. The good thing is here being that Madam Temporary Speaker, you are also a lawyer. It is unconscionable for us as legal practitioners to do what is happening in our counties. The first time I was ever elected to anything was to the Council of the Law Society of Kenya in 2016. I am a former council member of the LSK. Although the conversation there is that we should not shrink the practice areas for lawyers or that we should not try and limit the amount of money that lawyers can charge for as long as it is legal, we are abusing this system. I do not think even the LSK itself can accept what is happening in our counties when it comes to legal fees. For me this petition is solid. If you look at the feedback that has come from the county governments, they are saying that the internal lawyers that are supposed to be deployed under the county attorney office sometimes these matters are of a complex The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}