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"content": "I would, therefore, Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, at this juncture, wish to commend the work of your worthy predecessor and Members of the Standing Orders Committee of the Ninth Parliament, which had covered significant ground and which prepared a firm footing on which to commence our work. Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, I also wish the record to show that it is on your behalf, as the Chair of the Standing Orders Committee, that I move this Motion for the adoption of the Sessional Paper containing the proposed new Standing Orders. It is your resolute leadership that has enabled us to reach this far. Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, at our workshop, we adopted the Ninth Parliament's Draft Seven in its entirety and contextualised it to accommodate the very changed political environment under which the Tenth Parliament came into being. Our draft report at the end of the workshop was titled \"Draft One of the Tenth Parliament\" and it was the subject of a very lively debate by you, hon. Members, at a two-day retreat that we held at the Safari Park Hotel. Your comments, suggestions and recommendations at the Safari Park Workshop became the subject of our further scrutiny at yet another retreat, where we incorporated your input, comments and recommendations into the Draft One of the Tenth Parliament and, thereafter, crafted the proposed new Standing 3954 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 9, 2008 Orders which form part of this Sessional Paper as Schedule 2. Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, hon. Members, having scrutinised the proposals presented by other hon. Members, Committees, organised groups, officers of the house and the civil society, the Committee felt sufficiently comfortable with seeing our task as that of:- (i) Enhancing parliamentary democracy. (ii) Enhancing the parliamentary committee system. (iii) Enhancing the oversight role of Parliament. (iv) Strengthening political party recognition in Parliament in terms of Section 1(A) of the Constitution, which declares that the Republic of Kenya shall be a multi-party democratic State. (v) Involving Parliament in national budgeting process. (vi) Opening parliamentary proceedings to the public. (vii) Expanding opportunity for Private Members business. (viii) Improving the public petitioning process. (ix) Incorporating the spirit of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act (2008) in the rules of procedure. (x). Removing procedural lacunas where they exist in the current Standing Orders. (xi). Engendering the rules of procedure so that they are not only for the just Government of men, but for all; men, women, youth, people with disabilities and, indeed, all Kenyans all the time. (xii) Incorporating some of the generally accepted practices and rulings of the Speaker in the rules of procedure. (xiii) Simplifying the language used in the Standing Orders into contemporary English. Mr. Chairman, Sir, we also had to address the institutional reforms that the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Team recommended Parliament undertakes. These included recommendations for a comprehensive review of the Standing Orders and Procedures to enrich quality and output of Parliamentary debate and strengthen multiparty democracy, live coverage of Parliamentary debates, enhancement of the oversight role of Parliament over the national Budget, creation of a monitoring and implementation committee, introduction of timely deliberation of reports and opening Committees' work to the public. In undertaking our task as mandated by this House, we have not proposed any amendments to some of the existing Standing Orders that appeared to us to serve their intended purpose. Therefore, they appear as they are in the current Standing Orders, save for changes in numbering. However, several rules have been re-drafted to bring out their intended purpose more fully, while others have been written in simpler and contemporary English. Accordingly, the Standing Orders that we are proposing for your approval are written in a language that is user friendly and clear. We have endeavoured to respond to the request of all hon. Members in this Tenth Parliament and previous Parliaments while looking into the future and taking into consideration the demand for modernisation. Indeed, the Standing Orders proposed in this Sessional Paper have, as we have said in the Preface to the Report, been described by my hon. Members in the Committee as the Standing Orders of the 21st Century. I noted that the Leader of Government Business himself recognised that quote from the Preface in the Report. I will now go to parts, so that I can enable hon. Members to go into the Standing Orders, one by one. In Part I, the Introduction, the Committee proposes that meaning be assigned to the following words: Chief Whip, Leader of Government Business, Member, Paper and Party Whip. This is contained on pages 30 to 32 of the Sessional Paper. The Committee also proposes that meanings assigned to the following words be amended: Minister, Official Opposition Party, Parliamentary Party, Private Bill and Public Bill. This is on pages 30 to 32 of the Sessional Paper. Mr. Chairman, Sir, in Part II on the Section dealing with meetings of the House and swearing-in of hon. Members, it is proposed:- December 9, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3955 (a) If the position of the Speaker falls vacant at any time during a Session, the election of the Speaker be presided over by the Deputy Speaker or a Member of the Speaker's panel, if the Deputy Speaker is a candidate. (b) In keeping with the practice in our Parliament and others in the Commonwealth, the election of the Speaker be by secret ballot. (c) Taking cognizance of the aims of the Persons With Disabilities Act, we require the Clerk to make arrangements to enable any hon. Member with disability to vote. (d) The Third Ballot be removed and replaced with a provision to expressly indicate that the person who garners the highest number of votes in the Second Ballot shall be declared Speaker. It is worth noting that in the procedure of the election of a Speaker in a new House following a general election, the Sub-Committee had proposed that the election be presided by that hon. Member present in the House and not being a Minister, who has served for the longest period continuously as an hon. Member and taking into consideration age, if more than one have served the longest time. This, indeed, is the practice in the House of Commons in the UK and Canada. However, the Committee debated this matter at length and resolved that the provision in the current Standing Orders be retained. In taking this position, the Committee was guided by the example of the election of the Speaker during the First Session of this Tenth Parliament on 15th January, 2008, when the position was closely contested between two major parties; hon. Members asserted that in such circumstances, it would have been difficult for any hon. Member to be seen to be impartial. Further, such indefinite parameters as the longest serving hon. Member and oldest in age, as proposed, may lead to acrimony, particularly in a new House. In this regard, it was observed that the practice of the Clerk presiding over the elections is popular in other Parliaments such as New Zealand, Ghana and Australia, amongst others. Other proposals in the Parts that are for noting include:- (a) That other than the Government, one third of the hon. Members be allowed to ask the Speaker to summon Parliament during Recess. This is a new provision. (b) That the Chairmen's Panel be re-named the Speaker's Panel and membership be increased to four. The hon. Members of the panel be elected by the House immediately following a general elections to serve for a period of two calender years and those elected thereafter to serve for the remainder of the term. Further, in electing the said hon. Members, it is proposed that the House shall have regard to relative party majorities in the House and ensure that, at least, one is from either gender. Mr. Chairman, Sir, in Part III, that is the Section dealing with the Deputy Speaker and Chairpersons of the Committees, the Committee has proposed the re-naming of the Chairmen's Panel to become the Speaker's Panel and to increase, as I have said, their number to four. In Part IV, the Section dealing with the President, the Committee proposes that the Standing Orders be reviewed:- (i) so as for the Speech of the President be laid on the Table of the House, unlike the current practice where it is not; (ii) so that the debate on the Speech of the President be limited to a maximum of four Sitting Days; and, (iii) so that there is a proviso to allow a visiting head of state to address the House. In such situations, the Leader of Government Business, the House Business Committee and the Leader of the Official Opposition will consult and allow a visiting head of state, or such other dignitaries, to address the House. They may also hear any representation by a member prior to making such a decision, just to make provision for hon. Members who may have serious reservations about a particular person intended to be invited to make representations. You will find these on pages 36 and 37 of the Sessional Paper. 3956 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 9, 2008 If hon. Members agree with this proposal, this House will, no doubt, wish to have the honour and the privilege of inviting the President of the USA, he of Kenyan descent, and the one and only Mr. Obama, to be the first foreign head of state to address the National Assembly of Kenya."
}