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"id": 201681,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/201681/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Transport",
"speaker": {
"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
"slug": "robinson-githae"
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"content": "and The Standard . We have other newspapers like The People, Kenya Times - It used to be called \"Kenya Sometimes\" but now it is appearing daily. So it is now Kenya Times . We now have the Nairobi Star and others like the second generation. I do not want to call them \"gutter press\" as other people call them. The Authority should also be allowed to put an advertisement in those newspapers. So, I will recommend that the Minister removes the words \"nationwide circulation\" to give room to other newspapers that are now in circulation. As I had explained, as far as Government bureaucrats are concerned, there are only two newspapers with nationwide circulation. But we need to give room to other institutions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in this country, only 10 per cent of the population read newspapers. The other 90 per cent depend on radio and FM stations. I would be happier if there was a requirement for Authority to advertise in the FM stations because we need to support them. We need to support the community FM stations. They are the future. I will be glad if we could remove the words \"nationwide\" and also include \"radio\". That would benefit our people. As I said, there are benefits to be received and I gave the example of Katumani maize. We also have pumpkins with very funny shapes. They look like gourds. We also have mangoes that grow only three feet tall. So, there are benefits, but what is the long time implication of those new substances? In places like Europe, even in this country, there are some supermarkets that equip, receive or sell only organic foodstuffs. That is the future. One kilogramme of tomatoes grown organically costs more than Kshs200 compared to ordinary tomatoes that go for about Kshs10 per kilogramme. So, I am not very sure whether we are moving forward in this case or backwards. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me now turn to Section 25 which deals with information that the Authority receives. It says that it shall decide whether to keep the information designated by the applicant as confidential. I would have been happier if there was a provision that says that if the Authority declines to approve a certain application then no person should be 4330 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 3, 2007 allowed to use that information for their own purposes. Why am I saying so? Before banking business was liberalised, when we only had a few major banks, you would make an application to the bank manager and say that you want to import this or that. The bank would reject it and supposedly within two or three months, the same application with the same item that you wanted to import, will be approved for someone else. So, there was that misuse of information by banks. I fear that the same information may be misused by the Authority. It was even worse when in the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) you had to get authority to import or have foreign currency. You would make an application to import or to be allocated foreign currency but CBK would decline the application and within a few months, you would find the same item that you wanted to import had been given to another person. In other words, some of those officials would use the information that they had received to enrich themselves or to misuse that information for their own personal gain. So, I think we need a requirement that the Authority will not use that information that they have received to enrich themselves or to misuse it for their own person gain. So, we need a requirement that the Authority will not use that information or carry it to another person who then would use it for commercial gain. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I had said, we are trying to play God here. We have cases where scientists interfere with the reproductive system of the human being. We now have test-tube babies, surrogate mothers and so on. Even in today's newspaper, there is an article about an 82 year old Italian woman who has given birth to her grand-children. She used the eggs of the daughter to give birth to the daughter's babies. This only complicates things. What will those children call that lady? Is she the mother, grand-mother or great-great grand-mother. This will complicate things. We could wipe out the human population without knowing. It is good that we have this Authority but they need to be very careful when approving applications for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The same debate is raging in the United States of America (USA) as to how far the scientists should be allowed to experiment with sperms and the eggs from women. Others are even removing the nuclear of the egg and putting it in other places. That may amount to playing God and that could be dangerous. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Section 35 deals with the court with jurisdiction to hear cases and appeals. The section says that it is the High Court that will deal with all applications. Speaking is an authority on law. If today you file a case in the High Court, it will take a minimum of five years before the case is heard and settled, unless it is deemed or certified to be urgent. We are now saying that we are going to increase the backlog in the cases in the High Court. I would have been happier if it was the Resident Magistrate's Court because those courts are today manned by men and women of high reputation, schooled in law and experienced. So, I would have preferred that any appeal should be taken first to the Resident Magistrate's Court and not the High Court for the reasons that I have given that this only increases the backlog. Some of these cases will be urgent and they require an urgent solution. For them to be taken to the High Court, this will only increase the backlog. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, turning to Part VI, Clause 40 which authorises the Authority to levy money or fines on people who have misused organisms or have not complied with its order - it says that it gives authority for the Authority to levy a charge on the person on whom it is served - there is no provision on how they will collect that money. If they have said they have levied a Kshs10 million charge to a company that has desecrated the environment, how will they collect it? I have looked at it and there is no provision of how they will do it unless they go to High Court. So, this again will take too long and I would have preferred that a mechanism be sought under which such a levy charged on a person can be collected. Otherwise, it will just be a waste of time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, turning now to my last contribution which is Part IX, October 3, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4331 Clause 52(g) where it slaps a maximum fine of Kshs1 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, we are dealing here with the health not of a single person, but of the human race. I think a fine of Kshs1 million is too low. We should increase it to something like Kshs10 million and a jail sentence of ten to 14 years so as to tell the corporations or individuals who may want to introduce organisms into the environment which affect the human race that is not acceptable and that if they do that then they have to bear the consequences. So, on the whole, I am saying that I have absolutely no problem with the introduction of this Authority, but they need to take a very serious view of the application made to them so that in the process they do not wipe out the human race. They should authorise only those applications that will be beneficial to our people. They should not authorise those applications which may adversely affect the human race. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}