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{
    "id": 229719,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/229719/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 13,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Your Excellency, on behalf of all hon. Members, I wish to take this opportunity to warmly welcome you to this august Assembly of the Leadership of the Kenyan nation on this auspicious occasion of the Official State Opening of the Sixth and last Session of the 2 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 20, 2007 Ninth Parliament. The last Session of Parliament is the home-stretch in the national political playing field. There will be a scramble to score political points both at individual and at party levels. Everybody wishes to win. This is expected in any contest, but politics is not just another contest. It is a very high stakes contest with great prices and also devastating consequences. Your Excellency, hon. Members, the existence of a stable nation is dependent on the way our political contests are conducted. As we inch towards the forthcoming general elections, we must keep in sight the stability, unity and the wellbeing of our people. Hon. Members will, in the course of the Session be called upon to deliberate upon various issues. Some of these will be ordinary, others may even be parochial. There will also be issues of extreme national importance. We must be able to distinguish between issues that are of national importance and those that are partisan. Partisan issues are fair game for political posturing. Indeed, they should be. But matters of national importance should bring us together in the greater interest of our society. Whatever the issue, and in spite of the high political fever likely to be generated by the looming elections, we must be sober, courteous and civil in our deliberations. The Kenyan people expect no less from us. This calls for observance of all rules of debate and etiquette. The Chair will ensure strict compliance of the same. In the last four years the House has, through its Commission, implemented several programmes to improve various aspects of service delivery to its Membership and staff. We have increased office space through the acquisition of rental space at Harambee Plaza. The library and Research Department will be housed there. Security surveillance through hi-tech equipment is nearing completion. Recently, the Head of Research, Head of Fiscal Analysis and the Chief Legal Counsel have been employed. We have also appointed a Senior Deputy Clerk to co-ordinate and oversee the general administration of Parliament. We have also launched our website to enable easy access to Parliamentary affairs and to make it more open to the general public. Your Excellency, the Standing Orders of this House derive their authority directly from our Constitution. The Standing Orders are made by the House to regulate the manner in which the business of the House is conducted. At the tail end of each Parliament, a review of the same is done. In the recent past, much debate has focused on the relevance and efficacy of the Standing Orders. For that reason, and in keeping with tradition, I have appointed a Sub-Committee of the Standing Orders Committee chaired by my Deputy hon. David Musila, to do a thorough review of the Standing Orders and make recommendations to the main committee which will in turn table the same for deliberation by this House. Once adopted, those will be our Standing Orders and every hon. Member will be bound by them until subsequently amended. In the meantime the Standing Orders now in force will continue to regulate the business of the House with all their rigour. Any society without rules or which discards its rules is a chaotic society. Your Excellency, hon. Members, I have in the past talked about modernising this House through changing its interior design, introduction of live broadcast of the House and its committees proceedings and introducing electronic voting. Towards that end, the Parliamentary Service Commission commissioned a design competition and sought and obtained all the relevant bills of quantities. Indeed, we tendered for the project. Like anything else involving money in Kenya, it elicited vigorous opposition both internally and externally. Unfortunately, we have had to defer this matter to be dealt with by the next Parliament. It is a matter that I truly regret as I truly believe that this House should not lag behind in what is happening worldwide. That is the reality of life as of now obtaining in Kenya today! Another issue that I would like to address now is the fallacy that is often hyped upon which March 20, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3 is that hon. Members do not work. I wish to state from the Floor of this House, and with a straight face, that the vast majority of hon. Members are actually overworked!"
}