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{
    "id": 1552639,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1552639/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 616,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Sen. Mungatana, Sen. Osotsi, Sen. Cherarkey, Sen. Orwoba and Sen. Nyamu who have spoken to this particular Motion. I would like to state three issues with regards to the general contributions from Members. Firstly, is an appreciation of the Petition by Mr. Laban Omusundi. In appreciating that Petition, Mr. Laban Omusundi understood that lawyers of county governments or any other such person seeking legal representation have an entitlement which is a constitutional right under Article 27 of the Constitution. Article 50 of the Constitution specifically speaks about fair hearing. Fair hearing includes the right to get representation of your choice. One of the major issues that the Joint Committee had to consider was that particular provision of the Constitution, whereby if on one hand you deny county governments their right to seek representation of their choice, whether in-house or procuring services from external lawyers, that right cannot be taken away. The Joint Committee was alive to that fact. It considered the entitlement which is a constitutional right. I appreciate the contribution by Members to that extent. It informed largely a number of the recommendations that we made because we needed to safeguard the constitutional provisions. Madam Temporary Speaker, I would also like to stress the point that in the Joint Committee, there was diversity of thoughts. We had nine Members of the Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights and nine Members of the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations. As a matter of fact, Members of the Joint Committee were not all lawyers. Therefore, it would not have been possible to have conflict of interest for all the 18 Members, even if for one moment one would think that lawyers who sat in that Joint Committee would have had an interest. I want to state that it is not about conflict of interest that Members have alluded to in their support and speaking against the report. It is about the corruption aspect that is rampant in our county governments. Why do I say so? It is, indeed, provided, under Section 16 if the Office of the County Attorney Act, the procedure for a county government to procure services of an external lawyer. One of the major proposals which a number of Members--- To be specific, this was stated by Sen. Mungatana that if all county governments were to support their county attorneys to comply with what the law provides with regards to outsourcing legal services, we would not get to the situation we are in now concerning pending legal fees, which spills to billions of shillings from across the 47 counties in this country. The main issue here is corruption which is rampant in our counties. In the report, we have highlighted in our observations the fact that if only county governments were to comply with the law, including an observation made which we said that where possible, parties should have pre-engagement agreements where they agree on the terms of engagement, including legal fees--- If that was to happen, I believe we would definitely ensure no ballooning of legal fees and at the same time protect the rights and entitlement of our respective county governments to have legal representation of their choice. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is also not lost that this law that is in place is sufficient enough to make sure that we protect both county governments and external lawyers who equally are entitled not to be discriminated against, because denying them to 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."
}