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{
"id": 225267,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/225267/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kingi",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the President",
"speaker": {
"id": 248,
"legal_name": "Joseph Kahindi Kingi",
"slug": "joseph-kingi"
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in that Question, Mr. Ojode wanted to know when the Minister would release the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the activities of the two Armenian brothers, which was presented to the President in 2006. The response to the Question, as given by the Minister, was that the Government would not release the Kiruki Commission Report on the two Armenian brothers due to national security considerations. It is this answer that Mr. Ojode says was not satisfactory. That is the matter under debate today. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think we are making a lot of fuss out of a very ordinary thing. Commissions of inquiry are provided for under Cap.102. Once a commission of inquiry has been appointed, its duties are set out. Allow me to read the duties of a commission of inquiry. The relevant section of Cap.102 says as follows:- \"It shall be the duty of a commissioner, after making and subscribing the prescribed oath, to make a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the matter into which he is commissioned to inquire; to conduct the inquiry in accordance with the directions April 19, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 825 contained in the commission and, in due course, report to the President in writing, the result of the inquiry and the reasons for the conclusion arrived at, and also, if so required by the President, to furnish him with a full record of the proceedings of the commission.\" Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, their duties ended there. Now, there is nowhere, where it is stated that it is mandatory for the appointing authority to release such a report. That is a law we have made ourselves. We are here and we can amend it if we feel we do not want to continue with that kind of scenario. We can change the law to compel commissions of inquiry to make their findings public. Now that, that requirement is not there, it is the appointing authority that decides whether it wants to make that report public or not. In this case, the Government looked at the report and make a conclusion that it is not in the interest of the public to release it. So, a decision was made and the answer which Mr. Ojode is contesting was given. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I humbly want to say this: It is us here who can give this country the direction. If you want to change the law, change it and make it mandatory that, when such commissions are appointed and have done their work, they should make the report public. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, some issues were raised---"
}