HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 196721,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/196721/?format=api",
"text_counter": 139,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. M. Kilonzo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 47,
"legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo",
"slug": "mutula-kilonzo"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to attempt to persuade my colleagues who are opposed to this Procedural Motion to kindly reconsider their positions and support it and pass it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we do not live in normal times. I think it is fair that this House takes account of the recent history of this country. Let us appreciate that it is not only amazing, but also lucky that the first Bill to be presented to this House has something to do with accountants. It is an extremely important profession for this country and its future. If we bear in mind the Enron problem that arose in the United States of America (USA), then the sooner we allow our accountants to know that the House cares about them, the better. Caring about them is not just to advance the reason that the Departmental Committee has not been set up. Nobody in this House is in doubt that no time has been wasted, except only in the formation of the Grand Coalition Cabinet. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the President and the Prime Minister for ending the anxiety that this country had. This is the earliest possible time that this Procedural Motion would have come to the House. If you ask yourself what the result of adjourning for another seven days for the Bill to mature would be, you will begin to realise that the seven days comprise today, tomorrow and Thursday, which are the calendar days of Parliament. The rest of the days are weekend. So, even if you want to read this, and I appreciate that it is essential that we read this in due course, we will be recommending that, not only Ministers, but also Members of Parliament, be facilitated by research persons, so that they can advise them to offer policy guidelines on legislation pending in Parliament. For the time being, arising from the history that this country has had, it would be unfair to the country to adjourn merely because 14 days have not been acquired in the process of maturing the Bill. We always say that regulations, in themselves, should be the maidens of justice. If I may use that expression, the Standing Orders should be the maidens of proper operation of this House. If you look at our Motto, it says: \"For the Welfare of Society and the Just Government of Men.\" The Leader of Government Business is candid enough that unless this Procedural Motion is passed, there is the risk of not having business for the House. Therefore, he ought to be taken seriously and we allow this Procedural Motion to be passed, so that debate on the Bill can start. The other reason that has been advanced is about the Departmental Committee. In my experience, this is not the first time that debate on a Bill will start on the Floor of the House before it has been referred to a Departmental Committee. Why? The reason is that the Members of the Departmental Committee are hon. Members of this House themselves. They will not be invented from thin air. They will come from us. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is an advantage on the Accountants Bill that we will be debating, that the debate will open even before you have been nominated by your party, or the coalition partner, to serve in that very important Departmental Committee. Again, I would like us to salute the Minister who has given an undertaking that the Bill will not proceed to the Committee Stage, which is the point at which we will scrutinise it clause by clause, word by word and comma by comma in order to satisfy ourselves and the country, that we are producing a good law. The purpose of debate at this stage would be generalised debate, so that we, first of all, accept the policy that time has come for this country to have accountants managed by legislation for purposes of rendering the necessary services. This is the only way we can avoid some of the problems that have bedevilled the public sector itself. I beg to request those who have reservations about this Bill to note that we have only two other days left during this week, so that we can start debate on this very important Bill. This is what April 15, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 443 the House Business Committee has recommended to be tabled in the House. It is not an attempt to trick anybody or circumvent our Standing Orders. At the right opportunity, we will seek the amendment of these Standing Orders. They ought to serve the interests of the Kenyan people and not the interests of small time opportunities for Parliament itself to avoid working when the country expects us to work. Now that we have a Grand Coalition Cabinet, and now that we are reading from the same script - I can see the Prime Minister smiling very broadly--- The Leader of Government Business is doing equally the same. It is now time for us to embrace these people. Let us shorten the publication period of the Bill, so that we can start debate on it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my concluding remarks are very important. As time will prove me right, this House will be asked to pass the most far-reaching legislative instruments in the history of the country. Some of the instruments that will find their way to the Floor of this House will, once and for all, bury the negative ethnicity that this country has suffered. They will produce the most far-reaching constitutional amendments any African country has ever contemplated. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, by disposing of routine business like the Accountants Bill, we will be doing great service by making sure that when the various Ministers are ready with legislation for transforming the management and governance of the country, we will have enough time to address those key issues. Please, let us pass this Motion so that we can start the debate on this Bill. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}