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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mukiri",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to thank you for giving me this opportunity to second this Motion and ask the House to adopt this Report. This is a very important Report that has taken the Committee to far countries so that we can understand how other jurisdictions are doing their work. I was requesting hon. Members to take interest in the Report because I believe that it is going to improve on the issues of governance. I was talking about the issue of nominating top people in the Government. This is a very important issue and it is always being debated in public fora. It is an issue that very many people raise questions about. I believe that it is an issue that Kenyans should now take the bull by the horns so that we sort it out. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are already in the process of amending our Constitution, so that we can improve on governance issues. One of the fundamental issues which have dominated Constitution debate is that of public appointments. It was also captured in both Bomas and Wako drafts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what has been done by the committee in suggesting the nomination of the lady should be followed. We have had appointments in the public service, but when we look at the officers appointed, they do not meet qualifications. Sometimes you find that they have been involved in scandals. If we adopted the procedure where public officers are subjected to Parliamentary approval, then all these issues will be sorted out. I take this opportunity to ask the Government to support this proposal. I believe that governments will always come and go. It is only when we have powers that we enjoy and appoint our friends to those positions. We, however, forget that tomorrow we would not be in power and other leaders will start appointing people we would do not like. The procedure that has been adopted now is that once these people are appointed or when they are about to be appointed; before the Executive gives its final authority, they should be vetted by Parliament. Parliament would then interrogate their qualifications and look at their backgrounds. We have had problems where Ministers appoint people from their villages and who are not qualified. Sometimes, Ministers appoint people of questionable character. I remember when we were deliberating on the issue of Dr. Rotich, there was a big quarrel between Parliament and the Executive. After Parliament approved the appointment of Dr. Rotich, His Excellency the President did not go with what Parliament approved. However, the Committee has now come up with a solution to such problems. They have said that before an appointment is done, we should be given time to do a background check. When their names come before the House for the usual voting, the character of individuals will have been put to test. When these appointments are eventually passed by Parliament, we will not have the President refusing to go with what Parliament has decided. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would, therefore, urge the Ministers, who are enjoying power now, to support this Report. In deed, I urge them to support one of the issues that the Committee has proposed for minimum reforms. The issue is that all key public appointments 408 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 4, 2007 should be subjected to Parliamentary approval. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are issues of concern, especially in the appointment to State Corporations. This is always done by the Executive. Sometimes the Ministers act beyond their powers. They end up hurting many people. I am taking into account the fact that the other day the Minister for Agriculture sent home people who had been elected by farmers. He used the powers provided to him by the Pyrethrum Act to sack officials elected by farmers and bring his own people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the problems we have in State Corporations are a result of some of the people appointed being wanting. It is because of this that parastatals are going down. We have seen that happen before. I would urge that when appointing some of these officers, they should be subjected to Parliamentary approval. I would also ask the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs that once the Report is adopted, she should follow the law. It is very clear that within 14 days after adoption of the Report, she must submit the names to the President. The President would then give the authority for officers to start working. We have had problems in the nominations in respect to the same Act. This House adopted the nomination of a nominee from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). Since Parliament adopted that Report, nothing has been done. However, we are hoping that the Minister, as an officer of the law, will promptly follow the procedures. This should be done so that we add another soldier in the war against corruption. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would wish to ask hon. Members to support this Report. Once we go into the debate on Constitution review, we should also support the issue of approvals by Parliament. The hon. Members on the other side, have been complaining about the issue of ethnicity. They say people are being appointed to public offices from one region of the country. If we pass that provision in the Constitution, this noise would be a thing of the past. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that the Government has an intention of increasing the number of judges and we are hoping that by the time this judges are appointed, the provision in the Constitution that we are talking about, shall be in place. We want to see the calibre of the people that are appointed on the Bench. Of late, we have seen a lot of judges being appointed to the Bench and nobody knows their professional background or their moral probity. We do not want a situation where we appoint somebody on the Bench and the next day we start appointing tribunals to investigate him or her. I also wish to support the issue of the autonomy of the judiciary. That is very important. The judiciary has a lot of problems and also the judges have a lot of problems. It is not only the judges who have problems but also the litigants. Due to such procedures that were adopted, the judiciary did not even have accounts. The accounts were being run from the district offices. If you appear in court and you are fined or given a cash bail, you do not get that money back because the procedure is too involving. You have to wait until the District Accountant writes for you a cheque. It is a long procedure. So, many people have been losing their money that way and sometimes even when the money is paid to the courts and it goes to the District Accountant, they sometimes expend that money and it is not possible for you to recover it. Sometimes, it is embezzled. Therefore, it is important that the issue of the courts and their financial autonomy be sorted out once and for all so that we can improve on the administration of justice. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}