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{
    "id": 177543,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/177543/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 211,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Members, you will recall that on Tuesday, 25th November, 2008, the Member for Gem, Mr. Jakoyo Midiwo, rose on a point of order to seek the Chair's clarification concerning Members of Parliament travel abroad on official duties. The Tenth Parliament, perhaps, unlike other Parliaments, returned about 70 per cent new Members of Parliament who were elected to the House for the first time. Coupled with this is the fact that the new Members of Parliament and, indeed, the re-elected Members of Parliament, took time to settle down due to the state of affairs in the country brought about by the disputed Presidential Election results. Under the circumstances, sensitisation of Members of Parliament that is normally held between the months of January and March could not materialise until the month of May, this year. The events witnessed early in the year also placed Parliament at the centre-stage in peace seeking and the reconciliation process thus making Parliament to face new challenges, which necessitated hon. Members to acquire requisite capacity to handle the emerging constitutional and legislative matters. In order to address these challenges, Parliament engaged several development partners and other world bodies in seeking assistance to develop programmes to facilitate reconciliation and to legislate on laws and institutional reforms as envisaged in the National Peace Accord. Parliament received favourable responses from development partners, which organised exposure tours for Members of Parliament. As hon. Members are aware, the Kenya National Assembly is affiliated to several international parliamentary bodies such as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), CPA-Africa Region, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers' Association (COSPOA), Pan-African Parliament (PAP), African-Caribbean-Pacific and European Joint Parliamentary Assembly, IGAD-IPU, Whips Conference, African Parliamentarians' Network Against Corruption, Amani Forum, Society of Clerks-at-the Table and the Commonwealth Association of Secretary-General's of Parliaments of the IPU, Commonwealth Hansard Editors' Association (CHEA), African Parliamentary Union (APU) and other regional bodies and specialised parliamentary meetings, just to mention a few. Our Parliament is an active member of these bodies and, therefore, our participation in these international meetings is of paramount importance, not only to the Assembly, but also to the country at large. The dates of these meetings are usually pre-determined and happen to fall between the months of July and November each year hence the trend of expenditure on the Item of Foreign Travel is reflective of this during this part of the financial year. I will allow the two hon. Members out there to come in."
}