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{
    "id": 228684,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/228684/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 154,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Gachagua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 228,
        "legal_name": "James Nderitu Gachagua",
        "slug": "nderitu-gachagua"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank His Excellency the President for the exposition of public policy contained in his last Address to this House. At the same time, he also spelt out a series of pieces of legislation that will be brought before this House for debate. In his address to the House, the Speaker also said that among the Bills to be debated is the one dealing with the Standing Orders of this House which are intended to make this House more efficient in the execution of its duties. In the last four years, this House has been accused of a very low output. I think the Standing Orders are primarily to account for that low output. We hope that when this matter comes forward, we will be able to deal with such amendments that are meant to make our work more productive and give more to the people of this country. The issue of the time spent in this House and the constant accusations that we face, that hon. Members are either not present to ask Questions or Ministers are not present to answer Questions, is something that has dogged us for a long time. I hope we shall borrow the practice in India where Ministries are allocated time for Questions. By so doing, it is possible to have a Minister, say, for Agriculture or Health coming here on a Monday or a particular day so that we deal with issues pertaining to those Ministries on that particular day. That way also, the Ministers will have an opportunity to give substantive answers and detailed information that is meaningful. I hope that, that is one of the amendments that we are going to deal with, as a House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me turn to the issue of corruption in this country. This is a matter for which this House must take much of the blame in the following ways: We have Committees of this House, precisely the Public Investments Committee (PIC) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which are charged with an oversight function over the various activities going on in the Government Ministries and parastatals. These Committees make certain recommendations which the Attorney-General is supposed to act on. However, the hands of the Attorney-General are usually tied because these recommendations are either incomplete, perhaps, because they did not get into detailed investigations in order to arrive at certain recommendations, or the Committee Members had an agenda to cast aspersion on certain individuals. I hope that even as we deal with the Standing Orders, one of the amendments should be to open the hearings of both the PAC and the PIC to the public so that their deliberations can be made public. This is one way of increasing efficiency in those two Committees. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this perceived corruption sometimes stems from those recommendations that are far-fetched and which cannot be supported by any evidence. Thereafter, the Committees ask the Attorney-General to prosecute the individuals mentioned on the basis of those recommendations. When the Attorney-General fails to do so, it is alleged that this Government is not committed to fighting corruption."
}