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{
    "id": 158034,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/158034/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 146,
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    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to say that the issue of corruption was not even mentioned. The President only said, in passing, that he is going to increase the number of judges so that the Judiciary can deal with corruption. I know that the Judiciary has problems and practical difficulties. I am also an officer of the court, as a practicing advocate, but the issues of corruption go beyond the Judiciary. In the Cabinet, the Prime Minister chairs sub-committees and the President chairs the whole Cabinet, there are suspects of grand corruption. How can you say that when you increase judges in the judiciary, it will actually reduce corruption in this country? Let us follow what Mr. Jakaya Kikwete did. He said that “I am not the Judge and I am not accusing you but there is public money which has been misused”. Some of the Cabinet Members have been mentioned. Why can you not move? Ministers resign but why can that not happen in this country? I am saying that there is no action taken on the grand corruption in this country. It is a big disappointment to Kenyans who were watching him on television and listening to him on radio. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding reforms in the Judiciary, I do not agree that we need to add more judges in order for us to deal with the reforms in the Judiciary. If you look at the Constitution that still serves us today, in Section 68, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which appoints judges, consists of the Chief Justice as the Chairman, the Attorney-General, two persons who are appointed by the President and the Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC). All the five are Presidential appointees. When we speak about reforms, those are some of the things that we need to look at. How can the President be an appointee of the people who are supposed to vet those people who are supposed to be judges? In Uganda, there are two ordinary people who sit in the JSC. When we talk about reforms, even our brothers are doing it. When those people sit there, they are able to say what the ordinary people are saying. The vetting process is thorough. So, I am saying that the reforms in the Judiciary are not enough in this country. The outlining of the fact that we need to have more judges, in the President’s Speech, does not meet the standards that we have set in this country. Kenya is a signatory to the Commonwealth standards as far as Judiciary appointments are concerned. When we go out there, we spend a lot of money in conferences and then we sign and append signatures in large ceremonies but never apply those standards in this country. We have not even applied the Commonwealth standards which we have signed to be part of. As a result, we are continuing to have pata potea appointments of people to be judges in this country. No standards are followed. This kind of thing must change and this Parliament must be the one which pushes the reforms ahead. Some people have eyes but do not see, they have ears but do not hear and they have noses but do not smell. We are saying that we want reforms. The air in this country smells of reforms. What you see in this country is about reforms. What you hear in this country is reforms and we cannot talk about"
}