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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Sir. In Part XX, we have recommended that the Standing Orders be amended, so that:- (i) The Membership of the House Business Committee can be expanded to not more than 22 Members, taking into consideration the relative party majority in the House, have 30 per cent being not Ministers or Assistant Ministers. So, unlike now, where the House Business Committee is heavily tilted in favour of the Government, we have reduced the threshold. (ii) We have also recommended that Committee rules that are common to all Committees be consolidated into one Part titled \"General\". So, we have put all of them under one Section of the proposed Standing Orders. You will see them on pages 77-81 of the Sessional Paper. Mr. Chairman, Sir, in nominating hon. Members to serve in any Select Committee, the House Business Committee shall ensure that:- (a) the Membership of each Committee reflects the relative majorities of the seats held by each of the Parliamentary parties in the National Assembly and Kenya's ethnic, geographical, cultural, political, social and economic diversity, and shall give consideration to the need for gender balance; (b) quorum in Committees be three Members, including Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Investments Committee (PIC); (c) a Member who is adversely mentioned in a matter under deliberation by a Committee shall not be eligible to chair a Committee, and that such Member shall not be present at any meeting at which the Committee is deliberating on the matter that adversely mentions him or her; (d) unless quorum is achieved within 30 minutes of the appointed time, a meeting of any Committee of the House shall stand adjourned; (e) if a Member fails to attend four consecutive meetings of a Committee without leave of the Chair, such Member relinquishes its Membership to that Committee; (f) by resolution supported by a majority of its Members, a Committee may resolve that it has no confidence in the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson; (g) all Committee proceedings shall be open to the public, except where the Committee otherwise decides or when the Committee is considering its recommendations for the purposes of its Report. So, the Committee System is now completely open to the public except where the Committee itself is of the considered view that it should hold its sessions in camera, or where it is considering its recommendations to the House, for the good reason that the recommendations ought to be made to the House, and not to the public. Mr. Chairman, Sir, the Committee recommends further that:- (h) a Minister who fails to submit a Report on implementation of Committee Report (once adopted by the House) be deemed to be disorderly and, therefore, attract the penal consequences set out in the Standing Orders; and, (i) a Committee may, with the approval of the Speaker, hire such experts as he may consider necessary in furtherance of its mandate. Those are fairly new and noble introductions to the Standing Orders. Mr. Chairman, Sir, we have then proposed the establishment of new Committees. One of these is the Local Authorities and Funds Accounts Committee. In making these recommendations, we were aware that the accounts of local authorities, for example, have not been audited, in some cases, for more than 15 years, and we felt that the PAC and PIC were overworked, and were not getting sufficient time to audit the accounts of this very important arm of the Government; namely, 3960 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 9, 2008 the Local Government, and also the Funds Accounts, which comprise of the devolved funds, including the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). The Committee has also recommended the establishment of the Budget Committee, the Committee on Equal Opportunity, the House Broadcasting Committee, Implementation Committee, and the Committee on Delegated Legislation. The terms of reference for each of these Committees are set out. Mr. Chairman, Sir, we have recommended that the Chair of the PAC be the Leader of the Official Opposition, and where there is no Official Opposition, a Member from a party not in Government, elected by the PAC. So, in the current situation, where we have a Grand Coalition Government, the Chair of the PAC would be deemed to be the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament. We have also recommended that the Chairs of the PIC, the Budget Committee, the Local Authorities and Funds Accounts Committee be Members of parties not in Government; that, the initial Membership of PAC and PIC be for three years, and that the subsequent ones serve for the remainder of the Parliamentary term; that, the Standing Orders Committee, which prepared this Sessional Paper, be re-named \"Procedure and House Affairs Committee\"; that, Departmental Committees be split from eight to 12 Committees as contained in the Schedule on page 96 of the Sessional Paper. Mr. Chairman, Sir, in the New Part XXI of the proposed Standing Orders, we have introduced Public Petitions. The Committee proposes a very comprehensive and elaborate procedure for Public Petitions, as contained in the Sessional Paper. We borrowed this procedure from the practice in the Lok Sabha, which is the Indian Parliament, and the House of Commons of Canada and modified it to apply to Kenya. In New Part XXII, the Committee has proposed that a new procedure be inserted for the purpose of presentation of Reports from the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and the Pan African Parliament (PAP). Hon. Members know that they play a very critical role in appointing these Members, and it was said that it is only fair that they know what goes on in those institutions. Mr. Chairman, sir, in New Part XXIII, we have made provision for exclusion of strangers in certain places, and removal of strangers from the Chambers. We have also made provision for our relationship with media and how to deal with instances of misreporting or inaccurate reporting. In New Part XXIV, you will find general provisions for exemption of business from Standing Orders, sitting arrangements within the Chambers, foreign travel and payment of witness expenses to persons summoned to appear before the House Committee. Mr. Chairman, Sir, in the very last part XXV, and as I conclude, the Committee has proposed transitional provisions, namely:- (i) That, the proposed new Standing Orders come into force on the date of the commencement of the Third Session of the Tenth Parliament and the Standing Orders then in force shall stand repealed. (ii) That, the following provisions of the proposed new Standing Orders come into force on such date prior to the commencement of the Third Session of the Tenth Parliament as the Speaker may, after consultation with the Standing Orders Committee, appoint:- (a) Standing Order No.17, which relates to visiting dignitaries; (b) Standing Order No.34(4), which relates to the Statement by the Leader of Government Business; (c) the Standing Order relating to the Prime Minister's Time; (d) the Standing Order relating to the House Business Committee; and, (e) any other provision that hon. Members may feel need to be brought into operation December 9, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3961 before the next Parliament. On the coming in to force of the proposed new Standing Orders, or any of them, any orders, directions, appointments and other acts lawfully made or done under provision of the current Standing Orders, may be deemed to have been made or done under the corresponding provision in the proposed new Standing Orders, and shall continue to have effect accordingly. Mr. Chairman, Sir, in conclusion, let me inform the House that the recommendations in this Sessional Paper have been made after taking into consideration practices and usages from the Parliament of the Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom House of Commons, the Canadian House of Commons and the national Parliaments of India, Australia, Zambia, Uganda and others in the Commonwealth. Very finally, Mr. Chairman, Sir, it is in recognition of the fact, as Winston Churchill said in 1947, that \"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.\" It is for that reason that we make rules. It is also for that reason that we propose these rules for debate and adoption. Mr. Chairman, Sir, on that note, I thank you and beg to move."
}