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{
"id": 221039,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/221039/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Angwenyi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 326,
"legal_name": "Jimmy Nuru Ondieki Angwenyi",
"slug": "jimmy-angwenyi"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we were to travel through the tea estates in the highlands, you will see your brother and sister picking tea when it is raining and in storms and what they are paid are peanuts! The conditions in which they live are abominable. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is good that the Minister has come up with these Bills and I hope that, once we pass them, we will implement them immediately. We can take the case of the Sexual Offenses Bill, which we passed here, and it took more than a year to be implemented. I am not even sure whether it has been implemented! But, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are certain clauses in this Bill that, I believe and think that the Minister should look into. For example, take Clause 7 where we have the functions of the Board. These are enumerated in Clause 7(1) and then in Clause 7(2), you repeat the same functions. The Board may advise the Minister--- I do not know whether you are repeating those roles for emphasis, so that you can stress the issue, or what do you want to achieve? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on appointment of judges, the Bill says that judges will be appointed by the President on the advice of the Board and the Judicial Service Commission. There is nowhere in that appointment where the people's representative; that is the Minister, who is answerable to this Parliament, plays any part! I wonder why the Minister wants to relinquish the power to advise the President, along with the Board and the Judicial Service Commission, in the appointment of judges. That is in Clause 13(1). Clause 14(2), on the period of appointment is indefinite; it will be decided by the President. This means that the President can appoint one judge for Kisumu for six months and another judge for Mombasa for 20 years. That shows disparity! Why can we not have a specific period during which a judge could be appointed? It should be a uniform period. If he is appointed for three or five years, renewable, for life or for up to some age, the same way we do with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), that will give some uniformity and equity to the people who are applying for these jobs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if one were to apply for a job for which he or she does not know how long she or he will hold that position, that creates uncertainty. So, I would suggest that the Minister revisits that Clause on the appointment of judges so that they have a specific period that they can be appointed and it is uniform throughout the country. You can see that in Clause 51, offences have been cited. However, there are no sanctions to these offences. I do not know who is going to make the sanctions. I thought that if we are making a law and we are specifically saying which offences could probably be committed or which transgressions might be committed, then we must have relevant sanctions to go with these offences. That way, this law will have some teeth. Otherwise, it will be the same situation we are in 1476 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 17, 2007 today where I have a case where somebody was employed in the sisal estates in Taveta. He was presumably sacked, he went to court and for eight years his case was not determined. When it was eventually determined, that person was supposed to be paid some compensation by the employer. However, it has never been effected for three years now because the labour officers and the Industrial Court have no power to effect---"
}