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{
    "id": 187335,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/187335/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 301,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kingi",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for East African Community",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 27,
        "legal_name": "Amason Jeffah Kingi",
        "slug": "amason-kingi"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to have a \"bite\" on this Motion. The importance of village elders certainly cannot be over-emphasized. All of us know that they are like doctors on call. They attend to issues in the morning, in the afternoon and even at night. They are more busy than the Assistant Chiefs and Chiefs, yet they are not officially recognised and paid. I would pose a 2218 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 30, 2008 question. What are the problems that we have been having by not actually recognizing and paying our village elders? One of the problems we have been having is that they have had a tendency of trying to remunerate themselves by engaging in acts of corruption. The corrupt practices by the village elders have their roots in the fact that we are not paying them. Therefore, we see them hand over very unjust decisions to the extent that they actually affect the society. For us to remedy that, we should be able to accommodate, and recognise their role and officially provide for them. However, the problem with this kind of Motion is the timing. You do recall that we went through a referendum. Before a draft Constitution was taken to the people for their verdict many views were harvested countrywide, and there was a resounding verdict on the Provincial Adminstration. Kenyans spoke, and did so very loudly. They actually said that they did not want the Provincial Administration. The Provincial Adminstration should, therefore, go. That decision was actually respected by the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission; even the draft that was not floated to the people had done away with the Provincial Administration. We are now going back to completing the review process and the Government is committed to having a new constitution in the shortest time possible, it follows that, that particular document will certainly not have the structure of the Provincial Administration. Therefore, the role of the village elders will no longer be there. The problem I have with this Motion is the timing. I believe it can be carried on as a constitutional issue, so that as the debate on the new constitutional order takes place, then this issue can be taken on board. Otherwise we will pass an Act of Parliament that will last only for about six months or, at most, one year, because the Government has committed itself to complete the review process within a very short period. In as much as I would say that it is a wonderful piece of legislation that we want to come up with, it is coming up too late in the day. I would urge the Mover of this Motion to wait."
}