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"id": 191736,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/191736/?format=api",
"text_counter": 258,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
"slug": "robinson-githae"
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"content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I was saying I do not like the clause which proposes that any person who wishes to have a commissioner removed, can apply for that commissioner's removal. As I said, we have people, in this country, who do not seem to have much to do, and who always apply for people to be removed from office. This is the same clause we had in the Bomas Draft Constitution, which says that any person can apply for the removal of a Member of Parliament. Subsequently, the National Convention at the Bomas of Kenya, in its own wisdom, removed that recall clause. So, I am saying, that clause is dangerous. Furthermore, it amounts to having a noose on the necks of the commissioners. Again, Clause 11 says: \"A Commissioner shall be removed from office if two thirds of the Members of the National Assembly vote to remove the member, on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee.\" Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, my experience in this House is that you can never raise two thirds majority on any issue. That is the only reason why we were unable to enact a new Constitution. There is no party with two thirds majority in this House. You cannot get two-thirds of Members of Parliament having the same opinion. So, what that means is that it will almost be impossible to remove any Commissioner, if you require a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I finish, my main problem is that there are no penalties in the whole Bill, except where you refuse to attend when you are summoned or when you refuse to produce documents. But what happens if, for example, you have somebody who is constantly discriminating, practising tribalism, preaching hatred or harassing people who may have settled in their area? What happens if he is told: \"Please, stop\", and he does not? We must have a provision where that person who incites members of his community to evict other people and he is warned to stop and he does not and continues--- There must be a penalty. That person must be taken to court and jailed. We cannot have those kind of people in this country! So, we need a penalty where, once you advise somebody who practises those ills to stop and he does not, he is taken to court! If there are no penalties, then this will be more like an advisory body rather than an executive body. It must be given powers to take people to court. It has no powers! It has been given powers to sue and to be sued, but I do not see the powers to prosecute here! That body must be given powers to prosecute and, probably, it would be the best body to prosecute those who involved themselves in the recent political chaos that we saw in this country! That, probably, is the best body for that. But it does not have the teeth. We want it to have teeth so that it can prosecute. If it does not, then not much will be achieved. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, coming now to the mandate, the Commission must come out clearly and advise Kenyans that the Constitution allows any Kenyan the right to live anywhere in the Republic of Kenya. The Commission must tell Kenyans that! The Commission must tell Kenyans that the Constitution allows any person to own land anywhere in the Republic of Kenya. I repeat the word \"anywhere\". I have looked at the Constitution and there is no place it says that you cannot buy or purchase land in a particular area. There is no such clause! 1512 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 1, 2008 Once again, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Commission must tell Kenyans that having or purchasing land in a particular place is your right; it is not a privilege! You should not be given any conditions at all! There should be no conditions! You should be allowed to buy land; you should be allowed to work anywhere; you should be allowed to marry anywhere! That is what the Constitution says. Anybody who advocates otherwise must be dealt with by the Commission, if this Commission is to achieve its purpose! Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, even for the political parties, we must also not allow tribal political parties. We must have national parties; parties with membership from the whole country. If you look at the last elections and the two main parties, it was like the country was divided into two. We want a situation where any person can vie for a seat in any constituency. I would like a situation where Mr. Isaac Ruto can come to vie in Ndia and be elected! I would like a situation where I can go and vie in Kisumu and be elected because of my qualities and not because of the party ticket. We must work for that! Lastly, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is a clause which I am not very happy with. That is Clause 10(e), which talks about physical infirmity. Unfortunately, whenever any Act says that you can be removed from office because of physical infirmity, it actually discriminates against our vulnerable members of the society - the disabled. When most of the people see physical infirmity, they associate it with physical disability. The two are not the same. In fact, the physically disabled people are the most hard working members of our society. So, I would like to ask the Minister to remove that Clause. The intention is good, but when \"physical infirmity\", is put there, it is associated with physical disability. The two are different. So, if we can add or remove the things that I have talked about, I think we shall have enriched this very important piece of legislation that was negotiated at Serena. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we must commend the people who negotiated this agreement in Serena for the hard work that they did; for the long hours that they put in; for being steadfast in their obligations and in being steadfast in representing their Principals. Whatever they said was not personal. It was what their Principals were telling them. So, we must commend them and say \"thank you\" to them for coming up with this Bill. I am asking hon. Members to pass this Bill very quickly, so that the Commission could start working. We must emphasize and tell Kenyans that the purpose of that Commission is not to create jobs for people. That is a very important Commission. We should have had it a long time ago. In places like the United Kingdom, they even have a dictionary of politically correct words. There are some words that you should not use because they have got different connotations when that message is received by a person who is not from your ethnic community. So, we must commend the negotiating team for coming up with this Bill. My request is that we should support and pass it. We have been given the mandate by the Minister to enrich it. What I have been doing is to enrich it. The suggestions that I have given are meant to improve this Bill so that, what happened in December shall never, never, ever again occur in this country. With those few words, I beg to support."
}